Welcome to the Interior Perspective, where luxury real estate meets timeless design. I'm Nicole Fisher, a Hudson-based interior designer working with the region's most exclusive properties. Each week, we sit down with top brokers to explore the stories, insights, and inspirations behind the most remarkable homes on the market. This is your front row seat to the art of elevated living. Let's get started. Hello, and welcome back to The Interior Perspective. One of the things I love most about design is collaboration. Those rare moments when you get to work with true artists who transform an idea into something extraordinary. In every home, there's usually one piece that captures the soul of the space, something that stops you in your tracks and makes you feel something. In one of our recent projects, that moment came through in the artistry of a stained glass window, designed and handcrafted by our guest today, Dan Schwartz. Dan is Hudson Valley-based artist who creates custom stained glass pieces that blend tradition, craftsmanship, and imagination. His work brings light to life, literally, and turns an architectural element into a story. Today, we're going to talk about the process behind the creation, the magic of working with our hands, and what it means to keep centrally old craft alive in a modern design world because at the heart of design and at this podcast is one simple idea where art meets function and beauty becomes timeless. So take us back. How did you first get into this extraordinarily niche Yeah, good question. A question I get a lot and a question I don't have an extremely clear answer for, but you know, I was raised Catholic in the Catholic church, which, you know, I'm not really, I don't practice anymore, but I think I'm sure the stained glass windows had an impact on my, my sense of, you know, wonder and beauty and narrative and all of that stuff, I don't remember. The moment I remember being really blown away by stained glass was at the Getty Museum in Los Angeles. I went to see like an alchemy exhibition or something, but then I ended up in some, you know, room in some corner of the museum. They have a lot of beautiful Gothic stained glass windows there. And I was just, yeah, blown away by the craftsmanship, the design, the way the light and color speaks in a way that like a lot of other, it's just a totally unique medium, you know? And yeah, and so it transfixed me and blew me away. And at that moment I thought, I wanna learn to do this. And it wasn't until, COVID that I really started pursuing it. Um, I was a full-time musician before COVID and during lockdown finally had the opportunity to like take the, um, the kind of hobby side of the craft and, you know, just, just push the craft into something, um, explore Amazing. So when did this, become more of like a hobby versus a career path for Uh, yeah, after COVID it became a career path. I mean, I moved to the East coast after, uh, in 2022 and that's when it really became my career path because, um, I had to put down roots in a new place to, um, Yeah, I really, my partner and I moved here with no idea how we were going to sustain ourselves really. I didn't have a career in stained glass at that point. I had a music career, but moving just, you know, uprooted all of that, all of the connections on the West coast and all of the work opportunities there. So I had to build it from scratch here. And, um, so that's, that's when it started and that's when I had both wanted to get serious about it and had to get serious about it. in order to, yeah, to make something work, so. Very cool. Yeah, it hasn't been a super long time since I've been doing it, but I also, that's when I started doing it The combination, I mean, I think the reason a lot of people move to the Hudson Valley, the wonderful combination of living in a dazzling rural environment and being a stone's throw from New York City, the art and culture that kind of percolates the area. but you can still, you know, go for a walk in the woods. Yeah. No, I love it. Um, so for those who've never seen it done, can you walk us through the process of creating a piece of glass, a stained glass from, Okay. So, um, I get the question all the time of like how I stain the glass and I don't, you know, I buy, I source glass of, um, whatever, you know, color we decide, palette we decide to work with. Textures, you know, there's probably, I don't know exactly how many glass manufacturers there are in the US, but it's not many. It's like between five and 10. Yeah, and probably closer to five. There aren't a lot of major manufacturers. There are few like, niche manufacturers like small batch popping up now again, because I think, you know, there's been some resurgence of, uh, interest in the medium, but yeah, mostly, mostly people are going out of business, which is, it's not great. Um, but yeah, so I, I I'm familiar with these producers kind of track down the glass we need. Um, Well, I forgot the design phase. First I designed the piece. In your instance, you gave me something to work off, like an antique piece that I then extrapolated on, designed around. Sometimes I'm making stuff up totally from scratch in my own style. A lot of times I'm basing things on on designs that already exist and extrapolating, or, you know, trying to build something that fits an art piece, fits the style of the house, isn't too loud, but is still interesting. So yeah, design by the glass, and then I start cutting. And I mean, it's really just a meticulous detail-oriented process of uh, cutting glass, it has to be very accurate or else you're going to have like gaps in the seams between pieces of glass. Um, and it's obviously a delicate process too, where it's not hard to understand is collaging it's collaging with glass, but the, all the expertise, um, it's involved in not breaking the glass, you know, as you're doing it, or getting your cuts perfect. Yeah. I mean, and then, and so a lot of, and then you're using channel like metal channel, lead channel to, uh, to, to, um, fit the glass together, to, to piece it together and then soldering. And then, um, finally cementing you, uh, you cement to kind of get in all the cracks of the channel and harden up the piece and then, um, support, like for larger pieces, you have to have a framework, um, supporting it. which is another interesting piece. In cathedrals and churches and all these major glassworks, it's just as much kind of this fluid artistic vision as it is an architectural vision where you have to support it with metal. You have to have infrastructure around it that is often competing with the image, but it's also completely necessary and so has to be worked into it. So No, no, it seems, I mean, it's such a journey to get, it not only has to look beautiful, it needs to function. It's so much of what we do too, right? It's like these fabrics can look amazing and these furniture pieces can look amazing, but if it's not going to work with a five-year-old that we have in, you know, our client's home, then that's just makes it impossible to, you know, convince someone to allow it in their lives. Yeah. We live in a different world. We don't live in churches or museums, so we have to make it practical for our day-to-day. So when you're thinking about the design, is it more about how much is about geometry or about how much light is coming through or about a feeling? What's that kind Yeah, I think a lot about the feeling, you know, feeling first. I mean, I think as with any interior design, I'm thinking about how the piece is going to feel in the space. A lot of times I don't get to see the space ahead of time, so I'm working off pictures or drawings, but still just are there corners or are there curved lines? What's the color palette? Yeah, and like, yeah, just how is this gonna feel in the space? And I think like the real challenge does come from trying to balance ornamentation with like the aesthetic of a space, which is generally, I mean, just generally I'm working in spaces that aren't, really busy or really loud but a stained glass window is a colorful like light emitting like luminous thing and and the history of stained glass is also I mean it's kind of full of busy. work and pattern and geometry, they were like stained glass windows were built to like dazzle you and like be a fixture and a focal point. And I mean, obviously there's been a lot of history since then, since, you know, the Gothic period or even like the Tiffany stained glass stuff. I mean, there are like craftsman windows and there's like the Frank Lloyd Wright stuff that's just like very structural and, But yeah, I think trying to find that balance of ornamentation and space and the way that that can fit within a modern aesthetic, because usually I'm doing more modern spaces where stuff is very, yeah, it's not cluttered pattern-wise or it's not busy pattern-wise. And I mean, you're kind of an exception, I think, to that rule in your design where you're looking for exciting, Exciting. I mean, yeah, you're not like overloading the space, but, but like, you're excited about, about patterns and color and stuff where I feel like a lot of, a lot of homes, like people are scared to make those, those bold choices. Um, but yeah, yeah. I think ornamentation has always been really interesting to me because there's, I think this like fallacy developed where we think that like, like space like functional space and modernism is it like like spaces can just be functional and you can eliminate ornamentation and like that's like this extra thing but like at some point there's no difference between like functionality and and ornament it's like you don't have to have a mud room for your boots like, that's like a cultural thing. I mean, you couldn't track mud all over the floor, but like, it's a cultural and an aesthetic decision to have like a foyer or mudroom or a bathroom. You could brush your teeth at the kitchen, you know? I don't know, this is getting into it, but I mean, I think ornamentation like stained glass is the same thing where you're telling a story in a space you're bringing design into a space. It's not necessary, but it also like, I mean, it kind of is. It's like, it's this thing that brings a room to life and together. And so like, this is getting way off of your question, but I do think about light, but first of all, it's design, it's feeling. And like most windows I design are pretty like using transparent glass. So a lot of light's getting in no matter what. Yeah, yeah. How often are you getting like a design direction, like working with someone like How do you, how often are you getting design direction versus coming Pretty often. I mean, because people have a whole package of, of, um, you know, you're, you're headed in an aesthetic direction most of the time. And I mean, I've done things from, I've done very few things where I get no direction. I mean, I do build pieces that I just sell, which are like my own, you know, artistic like incarnations. Yeah. So that's, that's, that's generally where I'm doing what I want to do. Um, and usually lamps and things like that and not windows because a window has to be built for a specific dimension and space. Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I'm getting direction usually. Um, sometimes it's way looser. Sometimes it's, It's very specific, you know. There are a lot of people who just want me to make like a deer for their house. I'm like, okay, I'll make you a deer. But I mean, it's not really- Are there things you'll say no to? Yeah, yeah, definitely. I mean, I'm trying to move away from that realm. But you know, there are a lot of people up in these mountains with a lot of money and a big cabin, Yeah. I mean, no offense if any of those people are listening, but that's like the lower priority on my... Right. Yeah. I love it. I mean, we go through the same thing too. I just, I want to turn down clients cause it's not aesthetically right for us. You know, and balancing that with keeping the lights on and making sure that, you know, money's coming in and salaries are being paid. Like running a business is that constant battle, right? You have to make those, you know, decisions at some point you are, you will be lucky enough to, turn anything that doesn't align with you away. I mean, for me, that's just the Yeah. I mean, I do a lot of like restoration work too, um, which cool. Yeah. Which is, is, is also, it's, it's interesting to me because I get to put my hands on a lot of like antique design and, and see other people's craft and, and, but, um, yeah, the goal is definitely to, to move towards, um, my own design, my own, like, aesthetic, which is, you know, it's a little niche. So I don't expect to always be doing that work, but that's the No, I hear you. The restoration, tell me more about that. Is that more older buildings or churches or Mostly residents, mostly people bringing in like old either either windows that they've bought at like, you know, like antique stores, bazaars, whatever. And they want to have fitted to their homes or like restored or people who buy old houses and just have decrepit windows in there. Oftentimes it's like taking the window entirely apart and rebuilding it for a person or just fixing a broken piece of glass. But yeah, I haven't, I haven't done, super like church window, like huge, huge pieces. I mostly, yeah, I mostly get residential work, which is great. I like, I like that size and especially for restoration, you know, like a church restoration job could take a year and yeah, it's not, also not exactly what I want to focus on though. You know, I'd be excited to do something like Yeah. Do you, since you focus on residential so much, do you feel like these type of pieces are what really connects people Yeah, I think so. People are always really excited, or at least the people I talk to are really excited about their stained glass windows, you know? Yeah, I think they're really special. I mean, really special things to have in your home. Obviously, they don't fit in every home. They don't belong in every home. But when they work, they're incredible fixtures and conversation pieces. And I mean, they're just meditative. I think stained glass is a really interesting medium because it's It's a really meditative medium. It's like, I feel like you can stare at a stained glass window and daydream for like a long time. And it just kind of lends itself to this like tranquil, peaceful, kind of reverent mood. I mean, there's no surprise that it came out of like a sacred background, I feel like regardless of like your kind of religious proclivities, it lends itself to that type of headspace, like kind of this like open, kind of tranquil, just reverent daydreamy headspace. So I think, yeah, it invites that into a house and people who Yeah, no, I love that. What do you think is important for designers to understand about Yeah, good question. You know, I've been really lucky in that I haven't had a lot of problems working with designers, not to frame the question in that way, but there aren't like things I get frustrated about often. You seem like a pretty chill dude, Dan. I can't imagine you Yeah, but you know, I haven't had problems where like I'm halfway through the process and people are like, I mean, I guess I have run into the problem of like, you know, people wanting to change a color, like, you know, three quarters of the way through. And I'm like, well, this, this is like a thing that is, I can't just swap out colors here. I need to take the whole. The ship has sailed. And I think like in stained glass, maybe this, you could say, I don't know, you could, you could tell me if this is true across all mediums, but color choice is really difficult in stained glass. It's really difficult to photograph glass and communicate its color. It's a living, like, color palette where the time of day, the type of light it's getting dramatically affects the color of the glass. The background dramatically affects the color of glass. So if you send somebody a picture, piece of glass with a white background versus a gray background versus natural lighting background where there's green grass outside, it's really hard to get an idea of what your final product is actually going to feel like without going and looking at the glass yourself and holding it up to a bunch of light. So I think that's a really important thing to understand when working with a glass artist is just like, Yeah, it's a living material and I can send you pictures. But yeah, it's going to be confusing. But I mean, other than that, I think it's the same thing all artisans come up against where it's like, well, we made a Where do you see kind of for the future of stained glass? Like the, how this craft can kind of evolve. I've been seeing so many cool things online. This guy in LA doing, taking out the windows of a car, redoing like that, this like Porsche, like there's just so many wild installations it feels like. And just mind blowing of where people are even considering putting Yeah, I know. I know all of that. Yeah, I saw that as well. Yeah, I've seen like every once in a while there's a stained glass meme, like, I mean, not a meme, like an awesome piece, but like that I get like a hundred, you know, people send it to me. Shopping cart with stained glass in it. Like, yeah, I think stained glasses, The future, I don't know. I mean there's so many cool instances of people thinking outside the box and using it in some other context and I'm both drawn to that and then I'm always going back to the roots of just the window because I think you could put stained glass anywhere. There's a frame for stained glass. Like I said, it needs an architecture. And like, if you can find a place to, you know, you make an art piece using stained glass anywhere, you can kind of solder it in there, fix it in there. But then it's glass. I don't really, I know how it can move out of being more than a sculpture. The thing I like about windows and lamps is that they're, functional pieces, you know, and they're not just art pieces, which I mean, I have no problem with like, I love, I love art, you know, but I have, yeah, I like, I like the functionality of it. And so, yeah, I don't, I think it's a very limited medium in a lot of ways where Yeah, you can find new contexts, but I think the tried and true are the ones that have stuck around for the longest. I don't know if it's going to move very far. People are going to be making cool glassware, but that's a totally different process. Anyways, stained glass, yeah. I wish I could say I saw a dynamic, crazy future of people putting in all kinds of new things and people will continue to do that, but I think the windows is just the future. It's the past. I mean, it's a great technology. It's been around for a while for And in an era of fast design, we're constantly seeing this ebb and flow of slow, intentional skill versus this stuff that you can just buy immediately. I find more recently even people craving that sense of individuality. Do you I think you're right, you know, I don't because I haven't been around long enough. Yeah. Yeah. But I mean, I do feel like that's something that's sought over and after and very like valued at this point in time. I mean, we're living in a I mean, you can go and buy a stained glass piece on like Timu or like, you know, Etsy or whatever, something that somebody a craftsman should be charging like a few hundred dollars for you can get for like 10 bucks and you know obviously it's a piece of crap but like people can hang that in their window and most people won't notice a difference. But like, despite that, it's like people want artisan made, like the real thing. They want something that people are putting heart and craft into. And it's almost surprising just because the cheap versions available everywhere for everything. But you know, like, I feel like, yeah, the craft is very valued. And I think We're living in a, you know, upstate's great because of the artisan culture. I think it's great to be around so many makers and so many people doing kind of niche artisan stuff. I guess, but I mean, people are, people are I think it's, I think the value is, it's key. It's exactly what you just said. I, people crave that sense of, of artistry and the people who are, you know, shopping on these more fast fashion websites and whatnot. Those are just not our clients. They're not your clients. We're looking for a different endgame here. So, well, I am very inspired by our conversation. And there's something really poetic about what you create. He captures light, holds in color, lets it dance across the room. I feel like every time I look at that window in our Connecticut project, it's showing me a different perspective of what the design is and how it reflects the color. And in a world that moves so quickly, It reminds us that beauty takes time, craftsmanship still matters, and collaborations, especially ones between designers and artists, can transform a space into something that feels alive and amazing. Every project has that one detail that tells a story. And for this one, it's Dan's window, a piece that doesn't just decorate, it illuminates. And honestly, it is breathtaking. It really is. The next time you walk through your home, pay attention to light, how it moves, how it shifts, how it changes your mood, because sometimes in the most extraordinary design element isn't what you add, but what you allow in. Dan, I'm so happy that You can find me. You know, I kept it simple. Everything is just my name. danschwartz.art is my website. It's my Instagram handle. And if you go to either of those places, you can get Amazing. Thank you, Dan. We will chat with you soon and thank Thanks for listening to The Interior Perspective. If today's conversation inspired you or you're a broker with a story worth telling, connect with us on Instagram at NicoleFisherInteriorDesign or visit NicoleFisher.com. Until next time, keep creating beauty, living with intention and seeing every space