Stained glass inspired by Dorset and joy
- Flora has been making glass art in Dorset since 2003
- She makes her own designs but is a restorer, too
- She uses traditional glass painting, enamelling and silver staining
Flora Jamieson is a Dorset-based stained glass designer, painter and maker. Her studio is an enchanting place. It is a bright space filled with sketches, prints, drawings and, of course, glass. For her, designing glass is personal – she does it for “the joy of making something beautiful, practical and meaningful that will last for hundreds of years.” She is a very versatile artist as well as being a glass restorer, mastering equally well Victorian, Edwardian, Art Nouveau and Art Deco designs. Flora works with both contemporary and old glass and tries to bring the design sensibility and brushmanship of traditional approaches into modernity.
INTERVIEW
After a degree in media studies, my early career was as a studio administrator, in design and in photography studios. I then studied stained glass at college for a year, followed by an informal apprenticeship in a studio in London.
My restoration work involves painting new pieces to replace damaged originals in old windows and I seek to be as faithful as possible to the painting materials and techniques of the master glass painters of the past. I work with glass, vitreous paints, enamels, silver stain, lead and solder.
Well made starts with good design. Every lead line and colour choice should be thoroughly considered. It should read well, both close up and from a distance. As for the window, it should be structurally sound.
Living in rural Dorset, I am constantly inspired by the coast and the countryside, the flora and fauna around me, and the changing seasons. I also look to artists and designers whose work brings me joy – particularly the artists of the Arts and Crafts movement.
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