Privacy Policy

As customers of Phoenix Glass, I may hold some information about you (your name, email address, and in some cases your postal address and telephone number). This is a short note setting out how I collect, use and store this information. If you still have any questions after reading this, please feel free to contact me via messenger on my page or you can email me at paul@phoenix-glass.co.uk.

IMPORTANT NOTE: By "information", I mean only your contact details. I never have access to your financial information when you make payments using PayPal, Square (for payments in person or by phone) or bank transfer. All sensitive financial information is held securely by the processing companies, and they never share this with me, or anyone else.

How I collect information

Whenever you order from me, either face to face or through my Facebook page, I only request sufficient information about you to enable me to process the order, mostly just your email address, and sometimes your postal address.

Who has access to your information

Simply put. Just me! As the sole artist for Phoenix Glass, I am the only one who ever has access to your information, and I never, ever, pass this on to anyone else. If you pay me using PayPal, they will also hold information about you. You can read their Privacy Policy here.

How I use your information

Your information is only ever used to process your order by sending you invoices in the first place and sending you your completed order once it is ready.

How I store information

I keep information relevant to all orders in a physical “old fashioned” paper order book, because that’s the way I like it. If you have contacted me via messenger or email, your information remains within that message on my password-protected iPad (and synced iPhone), both of which I carry with me at all times and guard rigorously.

Your rights

You can ask me at any time what information I hold about you, and I will give you full details free of charge. You also have the right to ask that your details be deleted, amended or transferred. If you ever change your mind about what information, if any, you want me to hold on your behalf, simply contact me.

Last updated: 23 May 2018

A celebration of light (and dark)

As all of my stained glass commissions are bespoke and designed specifically to the aesthetic and practical requirements of the client, the brief is the most important part of the process.

'Day' with it's rainbow over the Dasset Hills

Some clients have very specific requirements, ' I would like two windows, one to be a Tawny Owl, facing to the right, on a branch at sunrise, and the other to be a Snowy Owl, facing to the left, on a branch at Sunset'.

Then there are clients that say, 'I would like two windows'.

'Day and Night' falls into the latter catagory. My client, a lady who already has one of my stained glass art panels in her house as well as a lamp and many other items, gave me a completely 'blank canvas' on this project.

'Night' with astral showers.

I set about discussion on what she loved and she suggested, 'rolling hills.... Shooting stars... (Not vic and bob) rainbows.....kind of links in with the Dasset Hills opposite where all kinds of astral showers etc can be seen. . Otherwise.... I am totally open to suggestions'...

So, I thought it would be great to have one window picturing 'day' and the other 'night', each 'celebrating' the spectacular sights that we can see in the sky. Rainbows during the day and astral showers at night.

'Day' from the reverse with the setting sun projecting coulred light from the panel onto the ceiling.

The two panels are linked together using the linework, where the lines of the rainbow dissappear into the right hand side of the panel, they reappear in the other one to become the trails of the stars showering into the sky.

The colours are chosen to reflect the time of day. The hills are three different greens, light and mid green for day and the mid green is joined by a dark green for night, The sky follows a similar theme.

They also contrast greatly with 'day' being full of many colours and 'night' being restricted to only four. This makes them work each on their own as individual panels and together as a pair.

'Night' at night with he hall lights projecting the sky onto the ceiling.

One of the most beautiful things about stained glass is the way the panel changes throughout the day and constantly provides you with wonderful little surprises. All day, and throughout the night!

Restored to former glory

Our latest project was to restore the stained glass windows in Church House, Glan Conwy in North Wales. My home. Originally fitted into the new building in 1932, they had suffered the test of time and were looking rather tired and stressed.

My task was to reproduce the original windows, to the same design, in this Grade II Listed building. The project was made up of 6 top panels which were repaired in-situ, 6 tall centre panels made new and replacing the existing ones and 6 bottom panels, again new and replacing the old ones, but fitted into removable opening windows.

The project took 3 months to complete and was finally installed on Friday 17 June 2011. A long, sometimes tedious task, that is rewarded with the most spectacular evening glow that throws wonderful casts of coloured light across the timber floor. Truly awesome, even spiritual!

A complete contrast to my usual work which has a distinct style, with it's curves, meaning and heavy narrative, this proved to be a challenge which I am very grateful to have be set. And provides an example of 'disciplined' contractual work which, in it's simplicity, is equally beautiful!

A place for all my Welsh work

Ever thought you 'belonged' somewhere else?

My Welsh grandfather moved to the South of England with his Dorset bride and as other distant relatives passed the link to 'home' slowly evaporated.

Drawn by something I can't understand or explain I moved to North Wales and planted a very small but enthusiastic seed. This was just a tiny step in the right direction.

However, mission was well and truely accomplished when, this week, my 12 year old daughter won Gold at Eisteddfod yr Urdd. Now, I appreciate that this may not mean much unless one understands it's context. I have made every effort to learn the beautiful language that is Welsh with some success, as has my wife.

However, for a child of two first language English speakers to learn 'everything' in Welsh is an astonishing achievement. To get through local rounds with her school choir singing entirely in Welsh and be chosen to represent the region is something else. To then go to Swansea to sing-off against all the other regions in Wales and get selected to appear on TV in Wales's top three is out there somewhere with the cookoos.
Then to win, well, I've run out of words...

This, I think, is the time to put all the work that appeals to my Welsh customers in its own special place. So, today I've launched 'Calon Cymraeg : Welsh Heart' to run along side Phoenix on facebook and be neatly packaged here on my website.

Handcrafted gifts and decorations, all glass, all Welsh, all from the heart!

My first Art Gallery Exhibition

Saturday 9 April 2011 was a very special day for me as it was the first time my work has been exhibited in an Art Gallery. For the owners to trust my work by giving me valuable floorspace is an honour and something I've dreamt about ever since I was hacking away at Breeze blocks in Art College trying find my way as a young and naive art student.

Walking in felt a little like arriving at my first Craft Fayre. Everyone else seems to know what they're doing and I'm bimbling around like a spare one at a wedding. Nerves soon dissappeared when before opening a gentleman walked in and asked to speak to me. After receiving his invitation he'd googled me and found my interview on UK Handmade Magazine (Thank you yet again Kirsten) with a link to this site. Impressed with my story of 'escaping the ratrace' he came to meet me and purchased a piece of my jewellery. Great start and the perfect calmer.

The Exhibition runs for four weeks and follows my love of and longing to be near the sea. The exhibition is a celebration of the fact that in the UK you are never far from the sea (a maximum of 72 miles, in fact). It includes stained glass panels that evoke feelings of the motion of the sea and of mythical legend.

Also on display are a collection of my latest seaglass sculptures, including bowls, vases, lamps and even a Christmas tree (yes, in April). Some combine different coloured seaglass in elegant waves and some of them feature sea pottery. A new addition, and one which appears to work well as my second sale of the day was lovely small seaglass and sea pottery bowl.

So, from breeze block chippings all over the floor to glass shards. It took a while, but I got there.
Don't suppose scoring the winner for Liverpool at The Kop end will ever come true but then, you can't have everything. One dream at a time...

Brenhines welcomes you to The Menai



'Brenhines' through the glass entrance at The Menai.

Brenhines (Queen) stands proudly at the entrance of the new Menai function suite at St George's Hotel, Llandudno but her full meaning is known by the few. Until now.

She was conceived standing on the promenade in front of St George’s Hotel and experiencing the magic of the surroundings. She is a celebration of all that is Llandudno, Queen of Welsh Resorts. Imagine Llandudno not just as a place but as a spirit that surrounds us. 


The colours in this piece are representative of her surroundings; the two blues of her dress are the sea and sky, the yellow and copper of her hair are the beaches and the metal historically mined in the area.

The whole composition curves from her to echo the promenade itself with its’ pastel coloured hotels and in a continuous everlasting cycle, returns to her to give again.



In her full glory.



Along the coastal curves are seaglass ‘jewels’, glass that has made its way to the sea and been tumbled and smoothed by the tide to form beautifully frosted pieces of glass. A process that takes a hundred years, these actual pieces are from the Victorian period when Llandudno made its name.

The three ‘smaller’ round windows within the work represent (top left) The Great Orme, (right) The Little Orme and (bottom left) West Shore. The word ‘Orme’ is reported to be a Scandinavian word meaning, ‘worm’ or ‘serpent’ after a legend that the Vikings approached the North Wales coast to invade at Llandudno. Through the mist they saw what they thought were two giant serpents rising up out of the sea. This was to make them turn and flee. The serpents in this piece, in the shape of everlasting celtic knots, are there to once again, ‘protect’ her (Llandudno) to eternity.

The third roundel pictures ‘Alice’ as West Shore is synonymous Lewis Carroll’s work. In ‘Through the Looking Glass’, Alice herself becomes ‘Queen’.

As to confirm her greatness, the ‘Queen’ herself wears a ‘Welsh’ red crown encrusted with green and white ‘jewels’. Confirmation that she is truly, The Queen of Welsh Resorts!