Colourful ideas for how to use stained glass in modern homes
From neon-hued screens to front doors, here’s how to put a contemporary spin on this traditional decorative device
Not just for church windows, stained glass is in the midst of a modern reinvention, with innovative designers and architects rethinking its potential. From rainbow-bright room dividers to neon bathroom screens and much more, we look at inspiring ideas for everywhere in the home...
Rose tinted spectacle
The most classic examples of coloured glass, windows still have the power to surprise and delight. They are a boundary that can be seen from both sides; playing with that duality is a tempting prospect. In the New York apartment of Crosby Studios’ Harry Nuriev, the designer inserted a pastel-pink Plexiglas internal window that pops against the cobalt blue kitchen cabinets and lends the view of the dining room a rosy hue. crosbystudios.com
Doors with drama
Architect Hannes Peer installed double doors in his Milan home featuring yellow and blue stained glass sections arranged to create a three dimensional effect. Vivid green walls enhance the richness of the tones, while light shining through the doors casts a glowing reflection onto the glossy wood floor. hannespeer.com
Orange crush
In Melbourne, Sibling Architecture used colour to inject every space in this mid-century family house with a sense of playfulness. Nowhere is that more apparent than in the bathroom, where an orange shower screen acts as a visual dose of vitamin C. siblingarchitecture.com
Artistic dividers
Breaking up open-plan spaces in a painterly way, stained glass is the ideal choice for partitions that don’t cut out any natural daylight. We love Glas Italia’s ‘Sherazade Slide Patchwork’ room divider by Piero Lissoni, with its elegant Mondrian-style aluminium grid that can be filled with any combination of tinted and plain glass sections. When it is retracted, the blocks of colour are layered on top of each other, filling the room with a shifting spectrum of shades. Price on application; glasitalia.com
California dreaming
At a house in Echo Park, Los Angeles, a stained-glass door by artist David Scheid was inspired by the Californian light and landscape. ‘I had just come from a visit to the Huntington Botanical Gardens,’ says Scheid, ‘and there was a cactus there that had a spiral twist to it. While I’ve always used triangles and geometric shapes, this was one of the first times I tried to think about forced perspective and creating layers with both the design and the colours of the glass’. davidscheidstainedglass.com
Neon dream
Patrizio Fradiani’s bathroom in a palazzo in Monteleone d’Orvieto, Italy, features an acid-yellow screened off cubicle that paints the original floor tiles and frescoes in a fresh light.
In the frame
Marjan van Aubel Studio cleverly combined aesthetics and technology – the dye-sensitised solar cells in the designer’s ‘Current Window’ use the power of the sun to generate the electricity that powers its glowing colours. Price on application; marjanvanaubel.com
Golden moment
Hannes Peer utilised the properties of coloured glass in the Milan apartment of his friends, Valerio Leone and Nastya Shersen. Here, sunshine yellow glass lozenges are set into a pale brass grid, with a single ruby section glowing in each of the sliding doors. hannespeer.com
Candy crush
In a family home in New Taipei City, candy-coloured vertical panels by Ganna Design soften the minimalist, monochrome stairwell, evoking the contemplative atmosphere of a church but in a far more contemporary spirit. ganna-design.com
Stairway to heaven
Stained glass can simultaneously conceal and reveal, making it a creative way to zone multi-use spaces. This Harlequin-style screen brings privacy to a bedroom on the mezzanine level of Replica House Studios – the Islington home and working space of architects Tom Surman and Percy Weston of Surman Weston – before wrapping around a suspended staircase. surmanweston.com
Reflective spaces
Bathrooms offer a prime opportunity to be bold with coloured glass, where it can create an enveloping atmosphere to soothe or energise. There’s a cathedral-like quality to the imposing bathhouse in Richard Christiansen’s 1940s LA home, Flamingo Estate, refurbished by Studio KO. studioko.fr
Above and beyond
A stained-glass skylight is a statement that creates the effect of standing inside a kaleidoscope, with colourful shadows cast all around you. This example in the Coach House Spa at Beaverbrook Hotel was inspired by the woodland landscape outside. The work of artist Brian Clarke, it depicts oak leaves in autumnal shades that appear to have floated onto the panes. brianclarke.co.uk
Decorative bliss
Proving that stained glass can be restrained and understated, the gold design of this digitally created stained-glass screen brings privacy to the space, while allowing light to flood in. Its design inspired owner Aurélia Paoli, founder of tile brand Beauregard Studio, to use similar designs as a signature that runs throughout her whole house. beauregardstudio.com
The essential guide to garden lighting
20 brilliant ways to include an office in any home
The best garden gates for style and security
How to choose a kitchen worktop
