'Art is the Flower - Life is the Green Leaf'

'You must offer the flowers of the art that is in you' so said Charles Rennie Mackintosh. The problem is that his unique designs with their elegance, balance and sheer style continue to grow in popularity and, some 100 years later, are some of the most influential ideas in design work today. Mackintosh created many stained glass panels and these designs have been very popular but the designs have often needed adapting for new shapes; long fanlights or thin door panels.

 

Iris design using Rennie Mack features.

 

A set of 3 internal windows.

 

A bit of a challenge! A hallway with one window on the far right with internal light from a kitchen. One window half lit and half with brick wall behind and one window full brick wall behind. To get the panels to work across all 3, I used a background glass which is sometimes opaque and sometimes translucent, using the thicker bits for the brick wall areas. In the borders I used an iridescent glass that light can pass through but is still attractive, reflecting back it's pearly colours when light is blocked. For the features where light was blocked I used silvered glass or very pale colours.   

 

Designs for bathroom fanlight showing different border arrangements.

 

Finished design.