Last a year a new family moved into an old house in den Bommel. They finally found a house with a spacious garden and room enough for a baby, a studio, a dog and a couple of cats. The house needed a lot of love. It took a lot of work, but they managed to turn the dated interior into a beautiful, light family home. They asked me to make a small window for their entrance.
It feels like home
This family loves to spend a lot of time at home. They love to have their house in light colours, with a hint of soft pastels. Even though it is not that large, the rooms feel spacious and peaceful. The father of the house has studied Japanese Culture in the past. I have a bit of a crush on Japan (I have been there once! Yeah!). So I got inspired by a bit of Japanese minimalism and by the feeling of Home…
Japanese Calligraphy
I am most definitely not an expert on Japan or calligraphy, but I find it very beautiful and inspirational. There is a beautiful certainty of the brush strokes. I would love to learn it. I wish I had studied Japanese. Well, I took a different path. And that led me here. I started to look for the Japanese character for Home and I found this: 家.
Taking some liberties
I started to paint the character myself, as well as I could. Trying to do it in the right order, with certainty. That is a bit difficult when you are an inexperienced calligrapher. I did find one character I was happy about. But I wasn’t planning to use it so plainly. Instead I took some liberties. I used details of the character and abstracted them into different designs. These I showed to my clients. They picked one they were pleased about and I was happy to start making it.
The making of…
The design shows a part of the character in black. The location of my window at the entrance, is the only source of natural light in the hallway. I had to be careful it would not become too dark. I decided to use clear glass with a black streak in it, white opalescent glass and a hint of pink. This is my reference to the pastel colours used in the rest of the house. The painting of the glass was most of the work. Just to make the brushstrokes look and feel right. The making of the window wasn’t too difficult. It was only a couple of pieces put in lead.
Soon to be revealed!
In this post I will show you some pictures of the window as it is in my studio. Because of corona, we are waiting a bit until it can be placed. When it is done, I will add pictures of the final result!
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