Birgit Verplancke

Stained glass maker

©wove_be

A heart of glass

Birgit preserves stained glass art for future generations
She first set up her workshop in her brother’s old room
The smallest window in Bruges is made by her

Birgit Verplancke, who has a studio in the medieval city of Bruges, specialises in the restoration of stained glass. From the start of her studies, she has felt an affinity for this material. “There’s something about stained glass you can’t explain: how it’s both fragile and sturdy, how it refracts light and creates wonderful colours, how it’s both liquid and frozen". Birgit feels it’s her duty to preserve this art for the next generations. She is on a mission to show people that it’s not an old fashioned craft and that it not only brightens your home, but your whole life. A milestone was her creation of the smallest window in Bruges, in the Gruuthuse Museum. During the renovation work, the museum decided to add one new, modern element to the building: a stained glass. A proud and prestigious moment for this gifted stained glass maker.

Interview

©wove_be

©wove_be

When and how did you start your own workshop?: When I was still studying, many people asked me to fix something: a window or a door panel for example. So I started my company before I graduated, when I was only 21. I then turned the former room of my brother, in my parents’ house, into a workshop.
What was the first work you made?: A door cabinet, for an old closet that a client had inherited from his deceased mother. My first bespoke work was a leaded light that was installed above the entrance to my father’s wine shop, a stained glass with grapes against a sunset.
What are your main sources of inspiration?: I take a lot of inspiration from nature, for example from the structure of crystals. The work of my heroes, like Dalí, also often serves as a basis for my own creations. But I get inspired by my clients as well: the books they read, the music they listen to and their hobbies.
Could your craft be considered in danger?: Absolutely, there are not nearly enough capable stained glass restorers. There are however a lot of “enthusiasts” out there, who pose a real threat to our heritage. I often have to spend a lot of time undoing bad restoration work on windows, before I can properly fix them.

Birgit Verplancke is a master artisan: she began her career in 2013 and she started teaching in 2018