Topic: IOW Glass Museum revamp completed - some pictures

[chilternhills]

We completed a revamp of the museum and reopened on schedule on 17th May 2021. We have posted some pictures here:

http://www.isleofwightglassmuseum.org.uk/insidethemuseum

The first dozen pictures are of the studio glass gallery. Then there is a couple in the Art Deco gallery, showing the new kid's activity table (very popular!), and the rest are of our shop.

Anton

[KevinH]

Looks very relaxing, light and airy. Well done. 

[chilternhills]

Thank you. We aim to be family friendly rather than to be too 'precious' about it. By the way, the glass makers bench is Michael Harris' original bench dating from the late 1960s. It's on loan from the Harris family along with many of his tools. They have given me several VHS tapes of Michael actually working at it. Once I have digitised the videos we will be showing them on the screen you can see in the picture (fixed higher up on the wall).

[Anne]

It looks wonderful Anton, I just wish I lived nearer so I could visit!

[chopin-liszt]

It's all laid out exactly how I want a museum to be. Enough room around each piece of glass to be able to see it properly and study it, no fussy backgrounds, and well-lit.

I am wondering about the security and strength of the glass walls and doors on your cabinets; if you get folk like me visiting, I have a tendency to bang my forehead off the glass, while trying to see around and under things.
I'm not worried about my forehead, but causing damage to either the cabinet or its contents. 
When I'm all focused on the contents, I forget there is a hard wall in the way. 

[chilternhills]

Thanks Anne. Thanks Sue.

The cabinets are very heavy. In the revamp we moved several of them. Two men were needed. In five years we have not had any accidents with visitors hitting their head on the glass! The glass itself is toughened. Correct lighting of the museum was high up on our design requirements since we have no windows. We use daylight white LED panels on the ceiling and bulbs in the cabinets. Actually, several visitors thought our ceiling lights on the sloping part of the roof were skylights.

Anton

[chopin-liszt]

  Sounds properly secure, Anton. I should have known it would be.