Panes of perfection
- Wendy and Cora are making a mark in a man’s world
- They have a keen eye for the geometric
- Their commission for a piece at Berlage’s villa was a highlight
Wendy de Ruijter and Cora Truijen met through Instagram, they were each owners of their own stained glass making businesses at the time. Their shared passion for stained glass spurred them on to unite forces, to become joint owners of their current enterprise, Het Ruijtenhuis. Their atelier is a cosy space in the heart of a Maker’s hub in The Hague. They not only make stained glass windows, but they also carry out all aspects of the making process, from design to installation of the panes. As two women setting up the business, they have managed to carve out their niche within a predominantly male world. Their reputation for excellence is firmly cemented in the high quality finish they achieve, specifically their eye for geometric precision and an overall instinct for what fits a space.
Discover their work
INTERVIEW
Wendy: The chance to combine the technical with the artistic. It allows you to be able to create and make objects that are not only beautiful and large in scale, but that are useful and carry out a purpose. There is a tangible result at the end of a lot of hard work.
Cora: The city of The Hague always inspires, but more specifically, we’ve recently become enthralled by some antique books we found on 1930s style stained glass designs. It fits with the aesthetic of our work as we make a lot of 1930s inspired windows for buildings throughout The Hague.
Wendy: When the moment has come to hold up the finished pane of glass. Throughout the making process it lies flat on the workbench, so to see the result is a wow moment, the reward of seeing the light filtering through the coloured panes of glass is the window as it should be.
Cora: We were given the honour of making the stained glass windows, all forty of them, for Berlage’s villa here in The Hague. He is both our hero and our muse. Berlage designed the villa for himself, and his family. It is wonderful to have become a part of his design legacy.
