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.
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!
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.
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
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.”
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.
