I remember when as a child already accustomed to stained glass I first encountered mid-century resin art windows. The vividness of the colors and the jigsaw effect of the shard-like shapes really spoke to me although I had no idea what shards are. I’ll chock it up to being -century myself.
When I was still at St. Louis Magazine, I did a story on a different art glass company, and the owner of the shop showed me the supply room. The epoxy resin came in cylinders, almost like Lite-Brite pegs. And the real glass was flat, like regular window glass, and "filed" by color. Even in that raw state you could see a huge difference in how those two materials filter light. : )
Great article. I’m sure he must have been involved with the wonderful stained glass at St. Mark’s Episcopal, St. Gabriel’s, and Gethsemane Lutheran (in a blue that rivals Chagall) -- all in South Hampton.
A friend of mine just designed Frei’s new building/workshop in Kirkwood. I’m scheduled to photograph it come Spring. Oddly, perhaps understandably, it has very few windows so that they can better control the lighting conditions.
Wow!!! What an amazing photo assignment. You should reach out to St Louis Mag and see if they want to do a follow-up to the big feature they did on Frei 10+ years ago. It makes weird scientific sense that to make beautiful windows, you must forgo the beautiful windows. : ) I love that they've never stopped trying to push and innovate and do what they already do brilliantly even better.
I remember when as a child already accustomed to stained glass I first encountered mid-century resin art windows. The vividness of the colors and the jigsaw effect of the shard-like shapes really spoke to me although I had no idea what shards are. I’ll chock it up to being -century myself.
When I was still at St. Louis Magazine, I did a story on a different art glass company, and the owner of the shop showed me the supply room. The epoxy resin came in cylinders, almost like Lite-Brite pegs. And the real glass was flat, like regular window glass, and "filed" by color. Even in that raw state you could see a huge difference in how those two materials filter light. : )
If I hadn’t already subscribed by now this piece would have sealed the deal.
Thank you! When you're freestyling it like this, it's always good to know that posts are valuable to people/hitting the right way. : )
Brilliant.
Thank you! ❤️ I know your have high standards for words and how they are put together. So that means a lot.
Great article. I’m sure he must have been involved with the wonderful stained glass at St. Mark’s Episcopal, St. Gabriel’s, and Gethsemane Lutheran (in a blue that rivals Chagall) -- all in South Hampton.
That sounds right! Rob Powers wrote a terrific piece on Frei's Midcentury art glass (https://www.builtstlouis.net/mod/emil-frei-stained-glass.html) that has a list of Frenzel's significant works, along with those of his colleagues. Chris Naffziger has written lots of great pieces about Frei, too, including this one: https://www.stlmag.com/history/architecture/how-emil-frei-is-saving-the-stained-glass-windows-of-st-francis-de-sales-church/. It's amazing to me that they are still in business.
A friend of mine just designed Frei’s new building/workshop in Kirkwood. I’m scheduled to photograph it come Spring. Oddly, perhaps understandably, it has very few windows so that they can better control the lighting conditions.
Wow!!! What an amazing photo assignment. You should reach out to St Louis Mag and see if they want to do a follow-up to the big feature they did on Frei 10+ years ago. It makes weird scientific sense that to make beautiful windows, you must forgo the beautiful windows. : ) I love that they've never stopped trying to push and innovate and do what they already do brilliantly even better.