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An exceptional know-how

[Article in partnership with Lumière de Verre]
In situ, in photo, in video, in augmented reality...: there are many ways to admire our rich heritage, but have you heard of this technique that allows you to sublimate monuments by covering them, in an ephemeral way, with an aesthetic light dressing made of projected glass? This is what this French company of Chartres proposes.

The alliance of art and craft

A monumental work of art projected on the facades of churches, town halls, abbeys, castles or factories: this is the process developed by Lumière de Verre. Just like street art, from which the 2 founders were initially inspired, this original way of animating public or private heritage is both very old and particularly modern.

Modern because it requires innovative work on glass - reconciling its transparency with relief effects and high artistic standards - and the specific optimisation of an optical machine (derived from the diascope) for large format projection. But also old because, to create these poetic dressings, Lumière de Verre revisits 2 old techniques: the thousand-year-old art of stained glass and a 16th century innovation, the magic lantern, the very first light projection tool.

Like this company created 10 years ago, the ancestor of the cinema used small painted glass plates to show hand-created sceneries which, by means of light on the glass, were diffused on a surface. After several years of research on materials, textures and colors, Lumière de Verre has gone further to propose works visible on very large surfaces (buildings from 15 to 20m high and up to 200m wide).

The architecture offers an enormous blank canvas,
it is now necessary to dress it.

Julien Guiller, Fondateur de Lumière de Verre

A contemplative and magical rendering

In contrast to current lighting techniques (video, LED), here the creations are composed with a noble light, that which comes directly from the material and which, very naturally, dialogues with the architecture of the monuments. Like paintings, they are thus adorned with motifs specifically created according to their history or their current events and invite passers-by to (re)discover them.

At night, both inside and outside, Lumière de Verre invites inhabitants and visitors to a contemplative experience: to let a building be re-revealed through a temporary light dress. A static and nocturnal animation which, accompanied by a customized sound ambiance, seems to have the power to release the history contained in the stone.

A "magic" that owes nothing to chance, the two artists who make up the Lumière de Verre structure (Julien Guiller and Stéphane Petit) work in close collaboration on each project. From the very beginning, the scenography is thought out in parallel with the glass creation - and vice-versa - in order to guarantee, each time, a unique result.

The majesty of glass in a few examples

As a rebound of a temporary exhibition, as a tribute to the inauguration date of a monument or simply for the pleasure of offering an enchanted night stroll to their visitors: several churches, town halls, abbeys or castles have already called upon Lumière de Verre.

Examples :

  • The Castle of Villers-Cotterêts / International City of the French Language. Forest evocation in a building site in light.
  • City Hall of Soissons. Illumination on the occasion of the end of year celebrations in 2020.
  • Church of Charolles. Artistic illumination in the context of the exhibition "Water heritage along the Arconce" of the Charolais-Brionnais Art and History Country.

To see more of Lumière de Verre's work, go here and, to find out about upcoming monumental decorations, subscribe to this Facebook page.

Valérie from Comme des Français

 

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