Holocaust Memorial at Woolwich Town Hall

“Auschwitz is outside of us, but it is all around us, in the air. The plague has died away, but the infection still lingers and it would be foolish to deny it. Rejection of human solidarity, obtuse and cynical indifference to the suffering of others, abdication of the intellect and of moral sense to the principle of authority, and above all, at the root of everything, a sweeping tide of cowardice, a colossal cowardice which masks itself as warring virtue, love of country and faith in an idea.”
― Primo Levi

Matching Up in South Norwood

Many late Victorian / Edwardian properties have beautiful doors with shaped head apertures and fine decorative moulding. It's wonderful when people treasure these old doors and they are an absolute pleasure to work on. The apertures seem made for stained glass yet often they are infilled with pretty colours of textured glass - Muranese was a popular choice of glass as it has a deep cut making it a lively glass that catches the light but also has good obscurity. I have a theory that as one of the last items to go into the house stained glass was a luxury and if the builder's money was running out, pretty coloured panes would do just as well.

We are lucky that a glass so popular in the Victorian era is still made now, although the colours are paler and the pattern flatter. When a pane breaks it can be hard to match up.

One solution is to make new panels that build in some of the original colours and glasses. In this door set we used a classic Victorian boxed quarry pattern that was simple and would not overwhelm the existing glass.

Victorian boxed quarry pattern.

Photo courtesy of John Coulter.

A mixture of old glass from stock and new glasses were used to help blend in... And the original panes given a good clean up!

Photo courtesy of John Coulter.

One smart door!

The old amber mismatched glass does not get wasted and will be recycled on many jobs to come. Here are a few close ups from the first of these below....

A Magical Night in The Gambia

The customer wanted to recreate in glass a magical moment in time - a beautiful night spent in a rowing boat under a full moon in The Gambia and started to sketch...

Baobub Tree

Moon with strange double halo

Photos courtesy of Jon Shenoy.

The sketch became a finished work...

which translated well to cut lining...

A mix of Textured glasses were chosen to reflect the silvery shimmering of the shell beach and the strange glow of the moon.

Panel leaded and ready to solder

Snow in The Gambia during cementing!

A splash of colour and happy memories at the top of the stairs!

And an album cover to boot!

Jon Shenoy's album 'Salinas Song'

Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race 1865

A beautiful scale model of the boat used in the 1865 Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race needed new 'ends' making where sadly the glass was damaged. 

Photos courtesy of Mathew Mazhuvanchery

The good news was that it created an opportunity for some stained glass panels.

Two new panels were made using a mix of hand made glasses in a variety of tints...

And fitted in to both ends of the case...

Oxford won the boat race by 4 lengths in a time of 21 minutes and 24 seconds. The race was considered "one of the most sensational races in this history"

A message from William Blake....

A Very Happy Peaceful Christmas to You

Santé!

I recently completed this little panel of grapes and vine leaves to go into an old house in France that was part of a vinery. The grapes are all different hand made glass tints and the leaves a mix of textured glasses. The border is a streaky rippled glass of greens and purples and browns.

now all that's needed is one of these...

good company and some glasses! 

More on Art Deco...

I recently completed a skylight influenced by one of my favourite stained glass artists Louis Barillet (1880 - 1948). Louis Barillet's designs were full of the energy and buzz of the era and he made maximum use of clear textured glasses...

 

Spectacular, sadly this building on the outskirts of Paris was a museum now closed!

I took the central rays from this design which linked to the 2 Art Deco light fittings either side of the skylight 

Art Deco Light

to create a skylight.

the clear textured glasses of this sharp design help obscure the attic above.

Here is a rambling tour through a tiny fraction of my favourites in Art Deco land!

I love these simple shop fronts...

Crewkerne.

Whitstable

Note the surface effect of the textured glass in reflected light!

East Greenwich, London

Central Greenwich, London (sadly removed)

Llandudno.

The Tuschinski Cinema in Amsterdam...

Domestic / deocorative….

Classic sun rays.

House in Melbourne Australia. 

Kees Kuiler (1890 - 1966)

Art Deco inspired panel at the Stained Glass Shop Wandsworth, early 2000.

Art Deco influences live and influence current design...

If this blogpost has made you curious to find out more about Art Deco design here are a couple of really excellent websites...

The Art Deco Society has a buildings at risk list where you can sign petitions to help save threatened buildings all over the country;

https://artdecosociety.uk/buildings-at-risk/  

The London Footprints website has a really comprehensive list of Art Deco buildings in London

https://www.london-footprints.co.uk/artdecobldgs.htm