Gay Fad Studios’ story starts in 1939. The Great Depression was still fresh in people’s lives and households, and Fran Taylor saw a need to bring joy back into daily life.
Taylor, then only 24 years old, spent $30 launching the first stage of her business—what would become Gay Fad Studios. She hand-painted and sold metal wastepaper baskets until metal became scarce at the beginning of World War II. She switched to glass, a decision that brought her to Lancaster. Gay Fad would be a $6.5 million a year company just a few years later.
Long having been a designated “glass town,” Lancaster became the center of what would become a legendary operation in its time. Taylor’s team included 25 designers—all women—who crafted cutting-edge glassware using inventive design engineering.
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Taylor and her team would hand-paint their designs on ceramic onto silk screen panels, and once applied to the glass, they would fire it at a temperature that would allow the ceramic to embed into the glass without melting it, making the design long-lasting. The technique was ahead of its time, and so too were the designs. The colors, motifs and shapes attributed to mid-century modern’s height—think 1960s and 70s—can be seen in Gay Fad designs dating as early as the 1940s.
Chapter 2 for Gay Fad Studios
In 2020, Jason Annecy partnered with Lancaster Sherman Rotary to paint two murals depicting original Gay Fad designs. Relatively new to the city—he and his husband Dave Annecy moved to Lancaster in 2016— he had scant information on Gay Fad Studios, “only two paragraphs online.” Through contacting a local historian, a collector and archivist of Gay Fad’s catalogues, and speaking with Taylor’s daughter Stephanie Taylor, Jason and Dave were able to piece together more about the studio’s—and Taylor’s—amazing legacy and share it through the project.
Fran Taylor’s story was as impressive as it was tragic. The business thrived under her guidance: She opened a showroom in New York City, dealt in international business and more. But in 1962, another company ripped off her 1963 catalogue. Without the resources to recover, the business shuttered as Taylor entered a copyright dispute. The following year, she was in a car accident that left her with a traumatic brain injury and in permanent care until she died in 1996.
Even once Annecy’s mural was completed, the couple wasn’t ready to part with Taylor’s story. “I want to revive the company,” Jason says he told Dave. “It’s a bold idea. It’s a crazy idea. But we wanted to honor and secure that history,” he says. With Stephanie’s blessing, the couple moved forward, and in 2022 they unveiled Gay Fad Studios, revived to its former glory.
Gay Fad Studio’s ‘The Lost Collection’
The community reception was emphatic, in Lancaster and beyond: Bill Butcher was Taylor’s close friend and Gay Fad’s art director. Two of her grandchildren happened upon the Annecys’ restored shop on a visit from out of state, with little knowledge of their grandmother’s impact. “It’s one thing to run a company. It’s another thing to be chasing history at the same time,” says Jason.
The grandchildren connected them to their other sister in Dayton, who inherited Butcher’s portfolio and sent over scans of her grandmother’s designs. Inside, the Annecys were in shock to find Butcher’s 1963 designs.
Walk into Gay Fad Studios today, and you’ll find glasses reproduced using the exact same techniques, materials and Butcher’s designs, including local glass and other materials. The Annecys named it the “Lost Collection.” “This felt like justice,” Jason says.
You can also find several reproduction pieces in the shop as well as new designs created using Gay Fad’s original production approach. Make sure to visit the connected museum, featuring a large collection of Gay Fad’s original designs.
“We want to make sure that nationally, people are aware of Fran and the artists,” says Jason. “That when people refer to mid-century design and designers, [they know] they are referring to them. Their names should be up there.”
Bottoms Up: A barware
The second annual Bottoms Up, created by Dave and Jason Annecy to celebrate mid-century barware, will be held in downtown Lancaster June 26-29. Enjoy glassware, food, drink and clothing vendors, as well as car shows, presentations, parties and more.
This story appeared in the July 2025 issue of Columbus Monthly. Subscribe here.
This article originally appeared on Columbus Monthly: Lancaster’s mid-century glassware icon revived at Gay Fad Studios
Reporting by Lucy Clark, Columbus Monthly / Columbus Monthly
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
