Keith Barley and Helen Whittaker from Barley Studio showed us around their stained glass workshop in Dunnington and then visited St Michael’s in Coxwold to tell us about the history and design of the stained glass in the church.

Keith Barley FMGP ACR is internationally renowned in stained glass conservation. He founded Barley Studio in 1973 after an apprenticeship with the York Glaziers’ Trust, where he worked on York Minster’s famous Rose Window. He is a UKIC / ICON accredited conservator (ACR), conservation adviser to the UK Corpus Vitrearum Medii Aevi (CVMA), member of the ICOMOS CVMA Board, external assessor for the Register of Architects Accredited in Building Conservation (AABC), Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers and Painters of Glass, Fellow of the British Society of Master Glass Painters and of the Winston Churchill Memorial Trust. Keith is Master Glazier for Ely Cathedral and has acted as consultant to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the Museum of Fine Art, Boston and the Cathedral of Sienna in Italy. He has published widely on the study and conservation of stained glass and has given lectures and talks throughout the UK.

Helen Whittaker AMGP MA BA(Hons) FdA is an award-winning designer of stained glass windows and architectural sculpture in glass and copper. Helen joined Barley Studio in 1998 and carries out restoration painting for historic stained glass windows alongside her new design work. She is an Associate of the British Society of Master Glass Painters, a Liveryman of the Worshipful Company of Glaziers, winning many Stevens Competition awards, and a Craft Scholar of the Prince’s Foundation, having received the prestigious ‘Hancock Medal’ for her achievements. Helen completed a Foundation Degree in Business Management (FdA) at Leeds Metropolitan University in 2012.

You can find out more about Barley Studio’s other design and conservation projects here.