Architectural Glass Sampler

Often commission requests come with a story. In this case the client wondered what might be done with a box of architectural glass samples that they had been saving for many years. Their family had owned a local hardware store, a multi-generation business. When they retired and sold the business, they had saved these samples of clear textured glass with a view to "doing something" with them. 

My proposal for them was a simple one -- a grid with a square in a subtle pale colour at the corners. Hanging at the top of a fairly large window in a vintage home, it would appear like a transom window. While simple in design, there would be visual interest in the way the variously patterned glass broke up the light. 

Textured architectural glass is manufactured with a wide variety of patterns. It was interesting to me that the samples provided came from two British companies that I had never heard of, Chance and British Glass. Some of the pattern types are still being manufactured today by Pilkington Glass, but others were new to me. I made a list of all the patterns used for the client's benefit in case they were interested in this historical aspect of the project. 

Logos of the samples from the two British glass companies used. Chance Brothers was founded in 1824 and was taken over  Pilkington Glass in 1945.