The Light Bearer

Using her skill, experience and exceptional talent with glass, designer Jo Downs has mastered the art of enhancing light and colour in her clients’ spectacular homes.

Glance briefly at any architectural design magazine, and you will see that contemporary living is all about harnessing light. Today, spaces and structures are created using layouts and materials that enhance natural light, by way of floor to ceiling windows, skylights, roof lanterns, light wells and glass balustrades within the structure of a building, to the internal use of mirrors and neutral wall colours that amplify and reflect light around a room. Accordingly, designers and their clients are seeking out furniture and artworks that complement such spaces and therefore, not surprisingly, glass has become a key choice in the interior design process.

Since 1997, in line with this 21st century trend, artist Jo Downs has been quietly establishing herself as one of the world’s leading designers of fine art and architectural glass. Having begun her career working on large scale projects for hotels and cruise liners, she now focuses much of her time on bespoke commissions for luxury homes.

From London to Dubai, to the remote coast of New Zealand’s north island, her spectacular creations grace classic and contemporary buildings alike. “Glass is an extraordinary material that works in all settings” says Jo. “When combined with real artistry, it allows for the creation of wonderful structures and forms, and every imaginable colour, in a way that draws in light and amplifies it. That’s evident in the rolled and blown glass of previous centuries, to the more advanced methods of glass making that we see today”.

Using the comparatively new process of kiln fusing, which bonds layers of hand cut glass of every conceivable shape and colour, Jo’s creations range from richly detailed glass partitions and walls, to dazzling swimming pool floors, to wall mounted artworks and multi-piece chandeliers, all crafted, fired and finished at her studio in rural Cornwall. “The endless potential of glass, and the wide variety of clients that I work with, mean that every commission is unique” says Jo. “Typically, a client will ask me to consider a space which they recognize as needing special attention – a hallway or mezzanine for example, or a dining area that needs something bespoke and beautiful. With traditional sculptural materials such as metal, marble or wood, large scale artworks can overwhelm a space, but glass is such a translucent, light-enhancing material that it can be taken to very large scales and still work seamlessly”.

Importantly, Jo’s studio facilities, combined with advances in glass fusing technology, mean that it is possible to create very large installations that are not just beautiful, but strong and safe. “Colour, too” says Jo “can be tuned with real precision in glass, in order to enhance a potential or existing design theme, and of course the form, and sometimes the movement of glass - as with chandeliers - attracts and diffuses light in a way that brings life and beauty to the room around it. Light and colour reach their full potential through the medium of glass, and that is what makes it such a special material.”

jodowns.com