Stained Glass Is Having a Very Important Moment

I think we can all agree that the idea of stained glass sounds a) old fashioned b) complicated and c) extravagant. We were thinking that, too, until we started to see the translucent colored material utilized in a very modern way, in regular ‘ol homes. At some points, small window panes were replaced with solid colored ones, while others created modern patterns that are both visually striking and vibrant.

So we dug a little further, and yes, there are people out there that are totally into stained glass again. One L.A.-based artist, David Scheid, picked up the craft again years after he learned it on a job replacing and repairing stained glass windows in Cincinnati, Ohio. “My friends had installed a new front door in their home. It needed a window and they casually mentioned they wanted stained glass put in there,” David recalls over e-mail. “Out of the blue I stated, ‘I can do that . . . I think.’ I had totally forgotten about this skill I had learned.” Frustrated with his career in the music business, David shifted his side hustle of making stained glass windows for friends into a full-time gig, making the custom pieces for private homes and stores like our fave, Dream Collective.

Another artist, U.K.-based illustrator Chrissie MacDonald, started experimenting with stained glass a few years ago, and is starting to rev up her business after an enthusiastic response to her own home project (see dreamy pic below).

Stained glass is mostly aesthetic, though since it is slightly altered with color, it can lend a window more privacy from neighbors’ wandering eye. And some may say it reduces heat in your home like a tinted window. But we’re really just into the look of it; when the sun shines through colored glass, the whole room “a temporary psychedelic wash of light,” says David that is unlike anything an artificial light can produce. And if there isn’t direct sunlight, the colored glass still glows like an illuminated artwork (you can always take a stained glass piece out of the window casement if you move, so consider it a work of art you’ll have forever!).

If you’re already plotting where you can put a stained glass window in your own home as you read this article, consider where you want to have an element of surprise. Clerestory windows like those in the Dream Collective store are a perfect place, David notes, because they get great light and aren’t obstructing the main window view. But really, any minor accent window can benefit from the dose of color and pattern.

Also, this doesn’t mean you have to go through replacing a window. “Even newer energy efficient windows where the glass isn’t removable can have a stained glass window sort of ‘laminated’ on top of the factory glass,” David says. “By that I mean it can be placed into the window, caulked in place and painted to match the finish.” And if you really don’t have a window to spare, consider a small floating piece that you can hang in the window for a smaller-scale color show effect.