Stained glass artist's appeal for 'endangered craft'

An artist is hoping to inspire others to take up stained glass-making to help preserve the craft and its creations for future generations.

Nathalie Hildegarde Liege, a stained glass artist for about 30 years, has launched a crowdfunding appeal to create a library and study room at her studio in Wem, Shropshire.

She hopes to raise £5,000 by 13 November to create a "haven for future professionals and the wider public".

"We are listed as an endangered craft. There's no time to waste really," she said, adding the skills could "vanish".

Liege's Andrew Moor Library and Study Room project is named after the author of the first contemporary stained glass book she found 31 years ago.

She picked up a French translation of 'Contemporary Stained Glass' in Paris and said it "was the catalyst for my move to an exciting area for contemporary stained glass".

The crowdfunder has been boosted by £150 funding from the Mid-Counties Co-op community fund.

A future plan is linking with libraries so they can access the collection of about 150 books built up since her student days.

As a teenager, Liege said she found it difficult to find specialist books or afford them and now wants to help other budding artists.

"It took me a long time to first have just four or five books of the basics of the technique," she said.

The Heritage Craft Association put historic stain glass window-making on its endangered crafts "red list" in 2023.

It says crafts in this category, include those where there are "serious concerns" about the craft's ongoing viability, due to factors such as falling demand or the number of craftspeople.

Liege believes other people will enjoy the beauty of stained glass and creating it.

Growing up in a French dormitory town, she "barely experienced nature" and when she first came across stained glass, it was very memorable.

"It was a very vivid experience of light on that day and colours and story-telling," she said.

As she began learning about it, the artist believed other people would also gain similar experiences.

"It's an ongoing, living artwork really, which lives with the quality of the day, in terms of weather, mood, whatever, but mainly through the glass, the light and the textures of the glass and the way we paint on it," she said.

Liege's career begun with a Fine Arts degree in Paris and work at the prestigious Pompidou Centre.

She set up the studio for her business Couleurlive in Wem in 2024, and says the county is home to both beautiful historical and contemporary stained glass works.

She hopes her studio can become an inspiring place for others.

"I need to do something, what else could I do? Then I thought of the library corner," she said.

"I thought why not offer people appointments to come to my studio, have a room in which they could sit, look at the books, take an hour or two, three hours if they want."

She added people would need to book in advance as the studio was also a busy working space.

"Because it's in the work space I think it would also be very interesting for people to come in, because they would also see the glass, they would see the lead, they would see me doing things."

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