大象传媒 Scotland - 大象传媒 Scotland - A stone鈥檚 throw from the ashes of Glasgow School of Art: another Charles Rennie Mackintosh landmark, brought back to life

A stone鈥檚 throw from the ashes of Glasgow School of Art: another Charles Rennie Mackintosh landmark, brought back to life

02 August 2018

Less than a month after the catastrophic fire that tore through Glasgow School of Art, another building designed by Charles Rennie Mackintosh reopened after years of neglect: The Willow Tea Rooms, on Glasgow’s famous Sauchiehall Street.

The 大象传媒 Two Scotland programme Mackintosh’s Tea Room followed to their original glory.

Some of Scotland’s finest craftspeople – furniture makers, glass experts and artists – put their “life and soul” into replicating Mackintosh’s famous designs, ensuring each element of the tea rooms ended up exactly as Mackintosh had originally designed it.

Kelvin loves that he can walk into the Willow Tea Rooms, look at the furniture he crafted to Mackintosh’s original specifications and say ‘I made that.’

There were, however, a few downsides to working on the project:-

“I made the call that I was going to make the tables. Looking at it though, I’m afraid I drew the short straw: I’ve got 188 small – tiny – petal details to make for the tables!”

A woodworker creates 180 perfect wooden petals details for Charles Rennie Mackintosh's chairs

A woodworker has to create perfect models of Charles Rennie Mackintosh's chairs.

Kelvin revelled in recreating the ornate chairs because of a personal connection with Mackintosh’s designs.

“When I was 15 years old, my mother decided that she, my sister and I were going on a trip to Helensburgh, where we ended up at Mackintosh’s Hill House.

“I walked into the house and the sun was shining through the windows. It was like walking into outer space — it blew me away!”

The interior of Hill House, which inspired Kelvin鈥檚 love of art and design

Ingrid was tasked with making 200 glass shapes for the two chandeliers comprising The Willow Tea Rooms’ centrepiece.

One of the most challenging aspects of her work was including bubbles – known as seeds – inside the glass.

“As a glassmaker, I spend most of my life trying to melt glass without any seeds, so the first prototypes were without seeds that obviously were rejected.”

Although she found it “a very special project” on which to work, Ingrid admitted she was, at times, slightly daunted.

“I don’t really know how, [with] so many elements all put together, what the effect is going to be like — because no one would be crazy enough to do that these days!”

A glass blower recreates a glass ball for Mackintosh's dramatic chandelier

Creating Charles Rennie Mackintosh's luxurious chandeliers

Rab is a stained glass expert, brought on to the project because of his previous experience renovating Mackintosh designs for Windyhill in Kilmacolm, Inverclyde.

This project had a much shorter timeframe than Rab was used to; and it was difficult due to the unique nature of the designs.

“None of the things that I am designing or making can be bought off of shelves. I have less than four months to put everything together. It’s extremely daunting considering that most of the work hasn’t been done in least 100 years.”