chinese leaders as stained glass windows

Plastered Stained Glass Project

Plastered T-shirts Stained Glass Project from Idea to Product

This is a great example of how a simple idea however random can turn into a product and even

some good cash.

The inspiration was my daughter who told me she had seen stained glass windows in Canada for the first time and loved them so I started thinking of

how I could create something for her.

After some thought of images of Jesus and other icons I started thinking about Chinese icons.

Naturally the first iconic people that came to mind were Chinese leaders and one revolutionary hero past and

present. Here is Mao Ze Dong

Deng Xiao Ping

Zhou En Lai

Lei Feng

And Jiang Ze Min (who was going to prove to be a problem)

Now I’m not a designer by trade so I contacted 2 very talent designers in Beijing, the other 3 I did

with my in house designers who are local Beijingers

Mao arrived first with stunning results.

Then Deng Xiao Ping

Zhou En Lai

Lei Feng

And Finally the only living leader Jiang Ze Min

Once I had these images I then googled Stained Glass China and found a tone of links, I clicked on the first one and called the contact number. I met

with the boss the next day as he was on business in Beijing, handed over the files and then started

receiving pictures which I requested of the window being hand made down in Jiang Su province

Here are the first pictures I received

These pics got me really excited

Then 2 weeks later Mao arrived at the Beijing bus station hand carried by a bus driver for me.

Deng Xiao Ping who is now the window in the back of my store in Beijing

Zhou En Lai

Lei Feng

When it came to Jiang Ze Min I got a call from the stained glass maker who told me it would be too politically sensitive to produce a living leader as a

stained glass window so I’m afraid Jiang is on the shelf right now

As my brand specialises in T-shirts we made Mao into a T-shirt that became an instant success.

We also made a set of lovely coasters that sold really well.

The stain glass windows also made it into some Chinese media including the People’s Daily one of the biggest

papers in China which was great for the brand.

I displayed the window at an art fair in Beijing. I sold 8 of the windows in total 2 at the fair and and the rest after the media reported on them. You can see other artwork that I have Plastered onto T-shirts on my website

www.plasteredtshirts.com