History
Stained glass is a technique with its roots in the Middle Ages, and some of its finest surviving creations, such as the Sainte Chapelle and Notre Dame de Paris, continue to amaze us to this day.
France boasts the largest collection of stained glass in the world.
A&O vitraux Honfleur, l’Amande et l’Obsidienne, is a stained-glass creation and restoration studio established in 1976 in the heart of Normandy, in Honfleur, the birthplace of Impressionism.
Stained glass is a technique that complements architecture and design.
Each project is custom-designed in a style that echoes both building architecture and interior design.
Over the past 10 years, we’ve restored stained glass windows for monuments such as the churches of Honfleur and Bellême, and the Franciscan cultural center of Deauville.
We created a contemporary stained-glass window for the church of Arès and all the stained-glass windows in La Petite Lucie, a charming hotel in Honfleur.
Our work
I draw the soul and sculpt the light of the place in which it will be installed. The soul you give it. Each project is therefore unique, imagined to add magic and poetry to everyday life.
People are at the heart of the studio’s philosophy. Each creation is the fruit of an encounter.
My savoir faire lies in finding the clear line and the right tone of light will inhabit the space that reflects your image.
A traveler at heart, my compositions are often imbued with the flavors of the other side of the world, where I continue to educate my vision and refine on my drawing.
I take into account the specific light and darkening requirements of the site where the stained glass is to be installed, to create the play of textures, transparencies and colors of glass proposed for the project.
Stained glass is a technique that makes it possible to block out the view without losing light; it captures it, taming it to the purity of the lead line that shapes it. Stained glass can also be conceived as a decorative element without requiring for light to pass through it, using reflective light.
In this way, a creation can live as much by day as by night, on a window or against a wall, as a screen or on a table.
The assembly of pieces of glass in lead rods retains a certain flexibility that guarantees the solidity and durability of the whole. A stained-glass window normally needs no restoration for several decades.
About the designer
My name is Amandine Steck and I made stained glass from 20 years ago
I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember, but I wanted a profession that also combined the rigor of working with materials. Originally from the Chartres region, lulled by the magic of the cathedral’s stained glass windows and the creations of the surrounding workshops, I naturally chose stained-glass to give substance to my sparks.
After 3 years training in drawing, and an introduction to several techniques such as engraving and photography, I was able to begin training in this savoir-faire of glass and light, which remains a French speciality.
Two years’ training in glass painting and seven years as a journeyman in workshops where I restored stained glass windows in major monuments gave me a solid technical foundation to take over from Martial Mayel in his workshop when he retired.
And so, for the past 10 years at the head of this Honfleur workshop, I’ve been restoring stained glass windows in the region’s churches, and designing them for professionals and private clients.
I exhibit my work at major trade shows in France and Belgium.
Two of us work in the workshop, along with the journeywoman I’ve been training for 3 years.
I use the traditional lead technique, sometimes enhanced by the American ‘Tiffany’ technique.
No fewer than 10 steps are required from the design of the model to its transformation into the luminous sparkle of this assembly of glass and lead, which takes its place in space as the sun shines.
The perception of colors and the way light catches will vary with the hours of the day, the weather, and the seasons.
As a colourist, the subtle harmonies of hues are central to my compositions. Playing with textures and opacities, the light coloured through the glass gives shape to the energy of the human encounters that cross our lives.
As each project is unique, nothing can be mechanised or digitised.
Everything is entirely handmade.
Always curious about the skills of other craftsmen, I like to try and extend the range of renderings traditionally offered by stained glass by combining other skills, such as enamels on copper in the contemporary creation we created for the church in Arès.