30 March 2021
30March
2021
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March
2021
March
2021
Over our thirty-five-year history, Daedalian Glass Studios has had the honour of being involved in the delivery many amazing interior projects at private residencies.
Private residential projects are often the most fun as clients are more likely to express their design preferences and styles. In that way, there is no formulae for what these projects will likely include, and we are often tasked with finding a way to bring their imagination to reality, somehow.
Alongside superyacht projects, these are also the projects with the healthiest budget, and the strictest quality control requirements. UHNW individuals are surrounded by the finest luxuries in life, and their quality expectations are equaled by their eye for detail if something is not right. This makes the private residential sector the most technically challenging, as well as the most fun to work in.
With this in mind, we are going to look back on some of our favourite private residential projects over the past thirty-five years, all of which provided our studio team with creative inspiration and technical challenges, along with pride and satisfaction upon project delivery:
Windsor Castle
Going to back to the mid-90’s at the start of the list, but where else could we start than Windsor Castle, residence of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II. This is not a project that we discuss in great detail but following the 1992 fire, Daedalian Glass Studios created a number of etched glass panels as part of the restoration effort which was completed in 1997.
Daedalian Glass Studios Technical Director, Chris Walmsley was very honoured to receive a letter signed from the Queen thanking our studio for all our efforts upon completion. This letter was framed and hung in our main offices, and to this day and it is one of our studios most prized possessions.
Private Residence, Highgate
This project is the second largest private residence in the UK, only behind another of Her Majesty the Queen’s residences, Buckingham Palace. Daedalian Glass Studios involvement was in the subterranean swimming pool area where we created a series of Corinthian capitals with integrated lighting to fit around existing structural columns.
The technical challenge here was firstly that this glass installation was required to sit around existing architectural features, and secondly that it was required that the property management team must be able to remove the cast glass, for cleaning and in order to change light bulbs.
This project is a favourite of our design department as it represents a bit of a watershed moment. To ensure that our cast glass would fit perfectly around the structural columns we invested in 3d printing technology to create a very precise mould shape. Of course, we are an artistic studio and value the process of handmade, labour-intensive craftsmanship so we took the smooth 3d-printed mould and used wax to build the decorative elements on top of its front face. This process of combining laser-accurate technology with a tradition of craftsmanship is now the standard procedure for creating our castings.
Click here to view this projects page in our portfolio.
Royal Palace, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
Another private residence of royalty, this time for the Saudi Royal Family. This project was completed in 2019 and was a great success of international collaboration. As Daedalian Glass Studios has gained an increasing presence in the Middle-East over the past 5 years, this project is special as it is our glass studios largest to date.
The design brief for our Founder and Creative Director, Davia Walmsley was to create a Majlis wall measuring roughly 10 meters wide and 4 meters high. This design phase lasted several months and encompassed partial mock-up sections of options for client approval, a full-scale sectional mock-up, and finally a complete built in our studios prior to crating and shipping to Riyadh.
The completed wall consisted of 12 layers of glass that had been water-jet to shape, kiln slumped, etched, and silvered. In total, over 1200 individual pieces of glass were manufactured and bonded together to create this stunning majlis wall design.
To install, a team of three travelled from our studios to site and oversaw a team of local workers supplied by the main contractor.
Testament to this projects’ success, the accolade of this being our largest in the Middle-East will soon be overtaken by another family members residence within the same palace complex that is due for completion this year. Daedalian Glass Studios were commissioned the new residence following the first project sign-off, and though it has been delayed slightly due to Covid-19 it is currently in production at our studios.
Click here to view this projects page in our portfolio.
Private Villa, La Californie, Cannes, France
This project is significant in our studios history as it was one of our first export project where our installations team also travelled to site to carry out works. Within this project, our studios were commissioned to create multiple glass features including:
- Decorative shower, WC closet, kitchen, and library doors.
- Custom motif sandblasted mirrors and window.
- A kiln formed bar back and matching bar top.
- Kiln-formed and back painted wall and column cladding.
It is also a great testament to the versatility of glass within interior design projects as Daedalian Glass Studios were commissioned for the gym, spa, pool, bathrooms, bedrooms, living rooms, kitchen and library areas.
Click here to view this projects page in our portfolio.
Private Residence, Formby, Merseyside
The final project to feature is one that is a personal favourite of our Technical Director, Chris Walmsley. The centerpiece of this project was a free-standing monolithic balustrade design that was created for the main staircase and internal square balcony areas. The lost space between the panels form the trunks of the tree designs, with the etched and gold-painted detailing at the edge of the panels creating branches spreading out from the (lost space) tree trunks.
These balustrades were complemented by a set of 40mm lead-crystal handrails for the staircase. In the en-suite bathroom, Daedalian Glass Studios were commissioned to create matching internal windows, shower screen, and entrance door using laminated fabric.
Click here to view this projects page in our portfolio.
Additional to this list, there are many great projects that we would love to talk about but never discuss due to strict NDA Agreements.
Indeed, there are more than a few projects that we would have loved to have added to this list but must remain known only to our team here at the studios.
If you really wish to learn more though, visit our current opportunities page and apply today!