History
I grew up in New Zealand and moved to Europe to live and study at the age of 17. In the 1980s, I completed a three-year diploma at Chelsea College of Art and Design, London, specializing in painting, printmaking and stained glass design. On graduating I joined Goddard & Gibbs-Stained Glass Studios (1868-2006), London.
This large studio produced much of the early stained glass of the 19th and 20th century for churches and cathedrals across the UK, and around the world, including New Zealand and Australia. The strong tradition of staying in your profession, learning, perfecting and expanding your craft is common in the UK so accumulated ancient knowledge and techniques were carefully taught and instilled into apprentices at this great studio. Thanks to this culture and a wonderful team of craftspeople, I learned to design, manage and construct large scale, site-specific stained glass works for the UK and for the Middle East.
After six years working in London, I spent ten months at the legendary Derix Studios in Germany. This was an unforgettable immersion into perfection and dedication at every level with a breathtaking array of astounding and beautiful contemporary stained glass made. Today, I live and work from New Zealand and can design for any building in any country. Please contact me if you have any queries or require more information.
The Stained Glass Domes of the Arab World
Beit Al-Qur'an Cultural Museum, Bahrain.
Design; John Lawson. Made by Goddard & Gibbs, London, UK. 8-9 metres diameter.
Express permission has been given to me by the Lawson family to reproduce these images, which may be subject to copyright.
The domes you see here were designed by the late John Lawson, who was one of England’s most talented and prolific stained-glass artists and Goddard & Gibbs chief designer for over 30 years. Goddard and Gibbs Studios began designing complex geometric stained glass works for clients across the Middle East from the 1970s to the early 2000s. With a remarkable catalogue of design work throughout the UK, John Lawson also became a master at designing beautiful, intricate geometric glass works.
Place and year of dome unknown.
Design; John Lawson. Made by Goddard & Gibbs, London, UK. 6-7 metres diameter.
His knowledge of Islamic faiths, art and architecture, his gentle nature and ability to work well with people led to many outstanding collaborative projects including many domes, a few of which are depicted here. Every part of these vast structures is handmade – the glass itself, each intricate panel and the steel frames. Over the years, we perfected this process and eventually built them to be curved rather than faceted, making the finished dome even more spectacular to look at.
The Sultan of Brunei’s Kiarong mosque dome, Brunei.
Design; John Lawson. Made by Goddard & Gibbs, London, UK. 8 metres diameter.
The text within these domes has been taken from the Quran and chosen by the clients. The calligraphy work itself is attributed to the Egyptian Islamic artist Ahmed Moustafa, who often worked on projects with us at the studio. Like all magnificent constructions, these are the result of creative partnerships between many professionals but especially the clients who, with astonishing vision and bravery, commissioned them.
UAE Embassy dome, Washington DC USA
Design; John Lawson. Made by Goddard & Gibbs, London, UK. 9 metres diameter - 2001.