Chris Walmsley
Abingdon School Chapel – Mynheer Windows
Every so often relationships come along that can define who you are and what you do with your life. This is true in our business, as much as in our personal lives. We have had the priviledge to strike such a relationship with Ecclesiastical artist Nicholas Mynheer. Daedalian has worked with him numberous times in the past, most recently mentioned here on our Blog about Islip Church. But our relationship, and particularly the artistic relationship between our Design Head Davia and Nick, goes back to the early 2000′s.
Abingdon School Chapel has been a project nine years in the making and was completed just over a week ago. This project was a unique opportunity in ecclesiastical architecture, as it is one of the few complete re-fits occuring in Britain’s ancient Christian places of worship and as such, it was not a chance Nick would pass by lightly. The earliest work we did on the project was finished in 2004 and constituted nine Altar windows. The remaining windows that we have just installed fullfil Nick’s vision for windows which not only beautify the space, but have a pastoral function, teaching the boys about how their lives at the school relate to their god.
With his unique style and dedication to the Christian faith Nick has put himself at the forefront of ecclesiastical design in Britain and we are delighted to take part in his vision.
We will be covering more of Abingdon School Chapel in a future blog installment, where we will talk more about Nick and Davia’s relationship, the function of the windows and the technical qualities behind the work, and most importantly be featuring more images of these beautiful windows!
The Pines – Sandblast Etched and Laminated Glass Design
Working on private homes can be a uniquely challenging experience. As a glass design firm we often find ourselves in somewhat longer negotiations over the exact composition of the products we supply. If the owner is personally involved in the project, then the quality standards that we routinely meet come into even sharper relief than usual. Of course that level scrutiny is not something we shy away from and is only right, when you consider the intensely personal and private relationships people have with their homes.
We have worked on a wide array of private properties all over the world and the heightened feeling of responsibility you get when interpreting such a personal vision never wavers. Your motivation can go far beyond the need to make the best glass designs, produce a beautiful piece of glass art, or maintain your reputation in a competitive industry. It can take you into a space where it becomes difficult to extract yourself from the feeling of “would I really be happy with this in my own home?” Even if you don’t personally like a design, the need to take it to what might be an unattainable level is ever present.
The following images show one of our most recent private home projects. Unusually, it was local to us and the client had a unique vision of what was needed. We are often proud of our ability to create something that helps invest a space with that intense personal and private beauty that is the hallmark of a great home. Here we can say, with confidence, that we did that.
Thomas Walmsley.
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- The stylised tree motif seen here was prevalent throughout the project.
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- Each panel in this series was hand decorated with glass beads and gold paint
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- Each panel was waterjet cut to ensure a perfect fit in the lamination.
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- The panels featured here are all curved and laminated.
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- All our laminated products are perfectly suited for moisture rich environments.
Kiln formed glass design
One of our current projects is at a converted clothing factory in Leeds, manufacturing a new kiln formed glass design for glass stair treads, glass doors, glass boardroom table and glass reception desk.
This project is due to be completed soon, more blog entries and photographs to follow
Glass Design for Balustrading and Stairs
Here’s a glass design that’s a bit different for a house near Southport. The attached photograph shows a mock-up of the irregular shaped vertical ends to the glass balustrading with sandblasting and fused glass beads bonded to the surface. I’ll post images as the project develops
Laminated curved glass design Hilton Hotel BAKU, Azerbaijan
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- Sheer Delight laminated glass panel
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- Curved laminated Sheer Delight glass
We were recently specified by ARA Design, London for glass design at the new Hilton Hotel, Baku, Azerbaijan.
We supplied 750 laminated glass panels from our Sheer Delight range. They are curved and used to clad the concrete support columns in the hotels’ reception area.
Hopefully we’ll have some photographs of the finished work soon