Tom Walmsley
Kiln Formed Glass Design – J Pullan and Sons – Joseph’s Well
Today’s post focuses on a project we completed recently for Leeds based building contractor and property developer J. Pullan & Sons. We created this unique kiln formed glass design for the redevelopment of Joseph’s Well – a former clothing factory in Leeds – which features extensively throughout the building in office doors, as hand rails and most notably, as tread plates retrofitted into the original Victorian cast iron central stair well.
In order to make such a considerable structure sound our team of technicians had to do more than simply supply toughened safety glass. Each tread plate is in fact made from three separate panels of glass, laminated together. In this case, due to the heavily textured surface of the kiln formed design, we were unable to use our preferred EVA laminating method. This meant us using a process called “cold pour” lamination; whereby liquid resin is sandwiched between two or more glass panels. This process can be tricky, but it allowed us to bond the heavily textured surface of the kiln formed glass to the flat safety glass that supports it.
Going to these lengths meant that the stairs in Joseph’s Well are as safe as they are impressive; especially with LED lighting along the back edge of each tread casting a serous light through the stairs. In addition the same patterned glass was used for 3 metre high office doors and, as a first for us, lead crystal rod was used as hand railing.
Despite the production hurdles we managed to supply just what the client wanted, so much so that a subsequent boardroom table, in the same style, was ordered immediately afterwards.
If we say so ourselves, we were impressed by the finished scheme and we hope you are too.
If you have any questions regarding this, or any other project, please get in touch with us.
Warm regards,
The Daedalian Team.
A Daedalian project pops up on Strictly Come Dancing!
Our glass-work in the Beaufort Bar at the Savoy Hotel made a brief appearence on Saturdays’ Strictly Come Dancing, when Anita Dobson and her partner Robin Windsor were filmed dancing in the famous London hotel.
You can see them on BBC iPlayer here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b016p9z1/Strictly_Come_Dancing_Series_9_Week_4/
It’s about 1 hr 20 minutes in…..
New website!
First, apologies to those of you eagerly awaiting updates from the world of Daedalian Glass Design. Thanks to both of you for your continuing support.
We have been away from newsletters and blog posts for the last couple of months while we prepare for today. Ladies and Gentlemen, welcome to the new Daedalian Glass Design website!
As part of our ongoing efforts to bring to you more superior products and services, we are excited to offer the design community an all new website with all new features! Along with some original elements, like the products and design service section there are two important new sections.
You can now get to know the team here at Daedalian, by way of our new Profile page. In this section you can find out a little bit about the senior staff here, as well as profiles for our Associate Artists; the highly creative people who work in other media with whom we collaborate repeatedly, to great effect.
Another new insight is our Technical page. Here you can find information regarding the manufacturing capabilities and limits of many forms of glass working. We hope this section will provide a resource for Architects, Designers and private individuals alike, to get a better idea of how we can help them and where our glass might best be applied. We are always on the end of the phone, or email, for specific enquiries, but we want to offer not just the visual delights of our glass, but the knowledge to better understand the material.
Beyond these main updates we have streamlined the interface, making the site clearer to understand and navigate, with a clean, light design.
We are really pleased with the way it has all turned out and we hope you will be too. If you have any questions, comments or feedback, please get in touch and let us know.
Chelmsford Cathedral
For today’s blog entry we are taking a short trip back in time and space, to the county of Essex, England and to last year, where we completed a Chapel project in Chelmsford Cathedral. It’s a longer entry than usual, but we hope you enjoy it non-the-less.
Daedalian were contacted in the Autumn of 2008 by local architect Gerald Barrett who, working with the Dean of Chelmsford Cathedral , The Very Reverend Peter Judd, sought Daedalian for their reputation for innovative and contemporary glass design and a long association with religious art of all denominations. The brief was to produce a glass screen to help create one of the Cathedral Chapels into a more secluded area for private prayer, while still maintaining a sense of openness.
St Cedd’s Chapel is where Morning Prayer is said and the Eucharist is celebrated each day. Throughout the day the Chapel is open for private prayer and is unexpectedly placed at the back of the Cathedral. Because of its position it enables people to slip in and out anonymously and is the reason the Chapel is so often used and the candle stand, where people light their candles with their prayers, never goes out.
Dean Judd had always liked the chapel, but felt it could use some improvement. “The Chapel is brilliantly accessible, but has always felt a bit exposed. We thought carefully about how we could make the Chapel feel more enclosed, without making it feel exclusive”
After a period of consultation, wherein Daedalian produced a variety samples to create the desired effect, the popular Chiffon Organic laminated glass design was settled on, the benefit of which was three fold: To achieve a subtle, but definite sense of privacy, decrease sound intrusion from the rest of the Cathedral and to form a sympathetic visual confluence with the existing Guiseppe Lund sculpted bronze railings. Along with fulfilling the the primary criteria, it was also hoped that Daedalian could achieve the project brief with a minimum of mechanical fixings, as the dean and architect had seen done by Daedalian previously, at Great Missenden Church.
To do this, each panel was bolted to the ground, below floor level, with stainless steel clamps; perpendicular fins were bonded to body of the screens, as opposed to using mechanical fixings, to hold the panels together. Daedalian worked closely with DP Squared Structural Engineering to make absolutely certain that the system they devised would give the necessary rigidity and structural stability, while keeping a light and open feel for the overall scheme. To finish, each door was fitted with 350mm long lead crystal pull handles, again helping to keep the amount of metal fixtures and fittings to a minimum.
The project was completed in late 2010 and more than fitted the bill for the congregation of Chelmsford Cathedral, as Dean Judd points out; “The new glass screens with their lines of folded cloth, which mirror the bronze bars, do just what we hoped. They enclose the Chapel and make it feel secure and special, without compromising the sense of openness and accessibility. This is a scheme that has worked out brilliantly. What we set out to do has been achieved and more; a special chapel has been made more so and its ‘presence’ has been enhanced by the beautiful and fitting work done by Daedalian Glass Design.”
Abingdon School Oxfordshire
Another ongoing project is the Chapel at Abingdon School Oxfordshire.
Artist Nick Mynheer was commissioned by the School to design 10 new windows for their chapel. Nick produces the designs and then provides Davia with paintings for her to interpret and realise as fully fused glass. These are panels approx 15mm thick made using “Bullseye” fusing compatible glass. The coloured glass sheets and glass frits are laid in layers and multiple fired creating a three dimensional effect. It’s both a very artistic and technical process.
We have already made three fused panels and four sandblasted design panels with fused glass elements bonded to the surface, for the alter windows. We have recently been commissioned through Nick Mynheer to make two more fused windows and four sandblasted design windows with fused elements bonded to the surface for the remaining chapel windows.
The Islip Big Bike Ride – 27th March 2011
Davia and Chris Walmsley along with their son Joe and his partner Becca took part in The Big Bike Ride on Sunday 27 March 2011.
Setting off from Westminster Abbey cycling the 65 miles to St Nicholas Church in Islip, Oxfordshire. It turned out to be a beautiful spring day cycling through the Chilterns to Great Missenden and then onto Islip. There were some 100 cyclists in all and the journey took about 7 hours with several welcome refreshment stops manned by volunteers from the church. We are quite new to cycling and were somewhat apprehensive at first – there are some big hills in the Chilterns, a bit tough going up but exhilerating coming down. This wasn’t a race, of course, so we took our time and felt remarkably well at the finish, this could become quite addictive! And what a very pleasant surprise as we climbed up the last short hill to St Nicholas’s Church to clapping and cheering onlookers, this must be like “Le Tour”
A thoroughly enjoyable day, we can only thank the good people of Islip for their support and hospitality and wish them great success with their fund raising efforts.
Anyway, back to work, we have a very big screen to make!!
Etched Designs: Susan Parker
Drawing on our strong history of collaboration with non-glass artists on bespoke projects, we have extended this relationship to create a new range of standard designs. Working with Yorkshire based Artist and Architect Susan Parker; we have used our design and manufacturing experience to bring her naturalistic style to a versatile glass product. Ideal as screening, windows, or doors these new etched designs have been layered on both sides of the glass to create their multi-tonal, 3 dimensional effects.
As with all our etched, sandblasted designs you can be assured of their long term quality thanks to our use of “Clearshield” low maintenance surface protection, on all our sandblasted products. For more information visit www.ritec.co.uk
Sheer Delight
One of our many laminated glass products, our Sheer Delight range provides a unique alternative to conventional wall panelling. Currently available in Gold, Silver and Bronze; Sheer Delight is a perfect high gloss, luxurious, wall covering for kitchens, bathrooms and, as seen here, public spaces too. The rich colours of the fabrics we use are intensified when paired with the bright reflectivity of mirror, as can be seen here.
Exxon Mobil Project
Working for HOK International and Exxon Mobil, we have created glass signage for 3 Exxon Mobil offices Asia and the Middle East. Cast in 32mm thick Glass, every letter is handmade to the exacting standards demanded for such global industrial leaders, in a style never used before this project (Fig 1). In (Fig 2) you see the letters bonded onto a, characteristically Exxon Mobil red, glass panel before shipping, and in (Fig 3) you can see another example bonded to timber wall panelling.
The Roman Project – Chester HQ
Chester HQ is a new Office, Hotel and Retail developments adjacent to Chester Racecourse.
Daedalian were commissioned to produce a 50 mm thick Laminated Glass figured of a Roman Lady. The figure was sandblasted and the lamination contains genuine Roman artefacts with in the lamination.
