Nzilani Glass

One of the amazing things about having connections from all over the world is that they can extend your experiences.

This is a great example. Our friend Will sent these extraordinary photos of Subtotica Synagogue in the northern Serbian town of Subotica (right below the Hungarian border).

Has anyone seen “clamshell” designs like this in other architecture? The colors! The ceilings!

Thanks for bringing along for the tour. Were inspired.

In Montréal, Canada this week for the Joint AIC/CAC ACCR Conference (Conservators from the States & Canada). The talks are nonstop and all interesting, but an hour of respite was taken yesterday to roam the city. ⁠
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The plan was to visit Basilique Notre Dame - de Montréal. You can see it (wrapped in scaffolding) in the ID photo. But, so grateful that someone recommended Christ Church Cathedral instead. It's welcoming, intimate and inclusive. It also has an AMAZING collection of William Morris stained glass windows. The Justice and Merry were exemplary in linework used as shading. Rarely are windows so exquisite to inspire the urge to grab a brush, bamboo sticks and some glass to do your own attempt, but these certainly did. The choice of glass, stainers, lead lines and paintwork is 🙌🏽⁠
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Some images suffer from parallax due to respectfully not standing on pews for a better angle. More reason to go see them in person!⁠
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It’s in!

In late 2024, Nzilani was contacted by about conserving a large Tiffany Studios window designed by Agnes F. Northrop titled “Mountain Landscape (Root Memorial Window)”. The window has an unusually well-traveled history. First installed in Omaha, NE in 1917, it was moved to San Antonio, TX in the 1930’s where it remained until 2025 when it was deinstalled by Stanton Studios and documented by Nzilani. It then, with all its components: over 70 brass covers and stops, a giant steel, hollow core frame and of course 9 beautiful, multi-platted leaded and copperfoiled panels - was transferred to our studios where we spent close to a year conserving it all.

Last week (as some of you guessed!) a small team from Nzilani traveled to Bentonville, Arkansas to work with their intrepid in-house art handling folks. We worked together seamlessly to fit all the parts together within a very short span of time after they safely arrived at CBM in a RH/Temp regulated art truck.

This Saturday, was the first day that the public was able to see it. We couldn’t resist swinging by on the way to the airport to see how people reacted to seeing it in person. THIS is why we do the work - when people look at the piece, they don’t see the countless hours of cleaning confetti glass with tiny cotton swabs and hxtaling glass shards back with tweezers. They don’t note that individual plates were removed on the back to access center pieces to clean and edge join them back together after years of debris and water deposits made the glass murky. And they certainly don’t think about our team in Hazmat gear, sweating in a custom containment unit carefully removing asbestos from the brass, frame and glass components so the people in the museum are safe to view the window up close. They simply enjoy it. And that's fine.

For those who do want to know more behind the scene conservation work, I’ll be returning this summer for some gallery talks. Over the next few months we’ll be sharing a few of our experiences, as well as an innovative display approach. For those who can…go see it in person! The museum is free every day, so everyone can have access to art… as it should be.

Fantastic Friday.

Earlier this week we shared our removal challenges with a 100-year-old, three panel skylight.

Now it's in the studio, it's smooth sailing.⛵️

The panels were bowing A LOT because they had originally been glazed with long lengths of came one direction and short ones the other way. Basically the window becomes an 🪗 (if you know, you know...and you also ☹️ because it doesn't have to be this way).

Weaving the lead so it doesn't hinge down long lengths strengthens the panel overall. This means it will last a longer over time. For some people, this concept takes a while to master. Our newest "Team Nzi-er" (a recent graduate of the joint The Fillet Foundation & Women Build the Bay program) took to this extraordinarily fast. This is the second panel she's ever built, and day 2 (she finished by the EOD BTW).

Note the "cheat sheet" prepared by Studio Head - sometimes the repetitive work makes your eyes cross, so it's good to have a reference.