Dow Built asked Resolute to recreate an iconic mid-century design by noted (at least here in the Northwest) designer Irene McGowan.
The fixtures were made for a Seattle art collector’s private residence so we will not speak about the residence and focus solely on the craft behind recreating the objects.
The fixtures were to be installed in multiple powder rooms as well as outside.
The challenge was to bring the design forward technically without changing its character.
Further challenges were to elevate the quality well beyond the original inspiration pieces and to reduce the scale – everything gets more critical in miniature.
The original design was drawn for a Hilton Hotel in Portland Oregon and, as you would expect in the early 1960’s, was based on screw-in incandescent light bulbs.
The updated version is lit (as if by magic) with waterproof narrow pitch LED strips. 90+ CRI, 1% dimming.
The structure of our recreation is all solid brass bar and sheet with an antique patina. Joints are silver braised.
The glass in our version replaces a fairly crude silicone bonded stack of lumpy fused glass and “bathroom glass” diffusion with optically pure glass cast in ceramic CNC generated molds with kiln fused fragments of the same crystal clear glass on the face.
The glasswork was executed by glass artists that worked in the Manifesto (Resolute) glass shop, have taken over much of our retired equipment, and are now our primary glass resource.
Dow Built are a premium level construction company specializing in the very most demanding projects.
