NOT YOUR USUAL

FROM INCEPTION...

WE HAVE TRIED TO MAKE SURE THAT WE MAKE A DIFFERENCE BY BEING HERE.

We have tried to base all we do as a business with the community at its heart. This is what makes for a happy business, & helps us share the love of what we do, be that with our own glass creations or the absolute pleasure of achievement from those attending one of our courses. Our feature shop window has become an integral part of working for the community.

After a very successful fund raising event & window for the local Childrens’ Hospice; Ty Hafan in 2017 we saw just how much can be achieved even if only by a small business like ours.

So we started Glass By Design Community Projects Fund in order to facilitate more work within the community & future art projects. Every time we mend a piece of glass for a customer, we put the payment into this fund for future use, & we also sell small window hangers from every last piece of ‘scrap’ glass which also goes into this fund.

Our first major target was £1000 to purchase a Community Defibrillator for Station Approach. With the help of donations from other local businesses in Station Approach, it was achieved by Summer 2018. It saved a life in 2020, so it has made our efforts to place one here worthwhile. We are again raising funds for the new pads/ leads & to roll out window stickers that direct public to nearest Community Defib in Penarth.  

TO TODAY...

PROMOTING MORE LOCAL BUSINESSES.

Our second major project was ‘32’. These were the 32 names on the commemoration board in our local parish who had died in WW1. The project saw current residents from the addresses the men (boys mostly) had left to fight in the war coming in to make a poppy. Wire artist Nina Lazarou kindly donated her time for wire poppy making & we brought in Sea Cadets, air cadets, & brownies to make their own versions of glass poppies. All proceeds went to the Royal British Legion, & all who participated learnt about the very young lives lost locally, & took their poppy home when the window display was over.

We developed & have been running The Penarth Open Studio Trail since 2013 to highlight the number of people painting / producing art in various mediums around Penarth. This has continued to grow year on year with the help of fine artist Andrew Coslett on board with us. It is a walking trail around Penarth, & is to encourage those even dabbling at classes to show & talk about their work. It is an ‘all inclusive’ Community Event. It is the first thing we worked on together prior to deciding to open our business!

In 2019 we supported The Welsh Charity Awards by making runners up glass stars using our community fund to fund the work.

In 2020 we again supported Marie Curie Hospice with the making of their 60th anniversary plaque recently unveiled by HRH Prince Charles. It was an honour to witness this.