Artistic Leadlights

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 240, 11 July 1928, Page 7

Artistic Leadlights

Local Design and Production

It is not a far cry back to the time when any leadlights used in New Zealand .'ere the designs and productions of Great Britain or Continental countries, but to-day there are firms which are . making a speciality of this .class of work, and Can design and manufacture a product equal td any imported article in either plain, . hammered. or coloured glass. One of the leading firms in what is practically a new industry here is the Thorndon Art Glass Company, of 114 Wakefield Street, Wellington, of which-the principal is Mr. E. O. Thornton. The designs which have been placed over the four shop fronts and at the main entrance of the New Theatre at Kilbirnie are nn instance of the high quality of the-work done, although this is only one phase of an art which is being developed in many other directions. The manufacture of glass in various shapes arid colours is an in- ■ dtisfry which has yet to be established in New Zealand, although ' the raw material for glass, production is to be found in the Dominion in vast quariy titles, and efforts are being made tt> establish its manufacture.

'■ 'At present the coloured and' opalescent glass in various shapes and shades required for elaborate leadlight designs is imported from England, Belgium, Bavaria, Bohemia, and other parts of the world, and the Thornton Art Glass Company work these up into the many choice designs prepared by them and made in their, workshops in the eity. They have some most beautift. 1-panels, in which the colours have been harmonised for the purpose for which they are intended, and are at present working' on a unique design, an elliptical dome 12ft. by Bft., which is to be built into a suburban residence for a well-known Wellington business •man. Leadlights lend themselves to many forms of treatment,. ornamental and useful, and in extending the scope in this direction the firm has made a speciality of hard metal work along these lines, using copper, brass, nickel, and oxidised metals with most artistic effect, all of which lend themselves to articles of furniture and china cabinets in particular. The firm is able to cater for this class of work in any form,.' for windows, doors, .screens, memorial windows, or panels for decorative purposes, executing their own designs, and producing them in their own factory by skilled workmen.