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Welcome to McGuire GlassCast Glass Design for Interior and Exterior Surfaces
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Peter McGuire
Born in 1971, Peter McGuire studied architecture in Dublin’s Bolton St DIT before moving to the National College of Art and Design to study all forms of glass making. With a degree in design( B.Des) in 1994, Peter travelled to Italy to work in a sculpture studio. Returning to Ireland, he honed his skills while working for Irish Stained Glass before establishing McGuire Glass.
McGuire Glass has been operating for over 25 years producing stained glass and kiln formed cast glass for use in architecture as artwork features, lighting and window screens. The development of colour, texture and form of glass have led to a wide range of work completed in Europe USA and Middle East.
Investigation into the geological formation of the Irish landscape leads to one fluid element: water.
Slow moving glaciers of ice carving out the valleys and mountains, it’s movement accelerated by rising temperatures. As the ice receded in the Carboniferous period some 320 million years ago, the ocean floor was revealed and layers of life are now evident in the rock surfaces. The surface of the Earth is created by movement of tectonic plates over millions of years.
Glass behaves in the same way: moving when heated and solidifying when cooled. This is reflected in the studio using furnaces to control the temperature and cast from nature.
Gravity
Gravity can bring you down but there are advantages.
Without it there would be no opposing force to pull against; it is the results of these positive forces that often produce the vital achievements.
Heat
Glass, like many other earthly materials, moves better when heated.
The human body will move more freely when warmed up. The food we cook with reacts according to the heat and the time exposed to it.
In contrast; the reduction of heat will halt the progress and announce the end of the transformation. A period of time to allow things to settle down improves the flavour and stabilises the structure.
The process of applying heat and anticipation of gravitational forces is key to understanding the nature of glass making.
Gravity
The glass begins cold and heats up until the consistency is that of honey, 800°C. Gravity pulls the glass into the grooves and valleys, picking up the texture of the surface below, burning every bit of organic matter away.
Next day, when the glass has returned to a temperature that can be handled, the results are examined and all things going well, a panel that is similar to a frozen crust of ice is removed from the surface which has gathered a record of visual information from the texture where it travelled.
Heat
When Peter is happy with the transformation, he suddenly drops the temperature to freeze the glass at this moment, the freezing temperature being 550°C. The material is then given plenty time to recover from the excitement, soaking in a long gentler heat.
These panels are treated to gain reflective qualities, silver and bronze, or left clear to draw in colour and movement from the backgrounds of the situations where that they are put into: windows, walls, screens or furniture.
Bespoke Pieces
The studio produces bespoke commission using many different methods and materials to produce unique glass artwork for residential and commercial buildings.
Ideas are developed with the client in collaboration with the architect.
The glass surface gathers a record of visual information from the texture where it travelled.
The results are celebratory findings of colour, texture and form, always changing with the light.
The work ultimately involves bringing light into dark structures such as buildings.
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Building Integrated Photovoltaics BIPV
Cast Glass surface design to integrate with solar panels on building facades to supply renewable energy demand and contribute to decarbonisation of buildings.
Botanic Cast Glass
The studio offers a classic size range which can be assembled on site. Each piece can be supplied with a stainless steel mounting frame. The options for finish may depend on the interior style of the space; timber, brass or stainless steel.
Standard size pieces available form Studio.
Innovative Work in Glass & Solar Design
Collaboration with Trinity College Dublin to develop a cast glass syface to maximise efficiency and consider the aesthetic of vertical solar facade in Builing Integrated Photovoltaics (BIPV)
The Result
We must live within a building to shelter us, but the provision of light directly through windows or reflected from walls is as important as the foundation or roof.
Without light, we would neither see nor grow and it is in this area Peter has spent most of his visual art practice exploring and developing the results to stimulate the visual senses by celebrating the constant movement and dynamics of light and life.