Leading light

Peter Robertson keeps up a historic tradition of stained-glass artistry and restoration from his humble garage.

Story + Photos Kate Newsome

Millennia after glass was pioneered in ancient Mesopotamia and glazed into windows by first century Romans, Peter Robertson – specs perched low on his nose – pinches a tablet screen. He scrolls through the photo gallery on his homemade website.

As sure as stained glass found popularity as a heavenly medium for storytelling, each project Peter has undertaken in the past 4 decades tells a tale. There was the brassiere made of red ‘slumped glass’ for a 1980s tourism commercial; an arched window, tall as a pencil, for a model railroader’s boiler house; a window featuring a dove icon for a Brisbane Russian Orthodox congregation; eucalyptus trees and superb fairy-wrens for a Chinchilla, Qld, church; a saddle, billycan and campfire to embellish a country outfitter’s storefront; and a blue sapphire insert for the gold-gilded town sign of Inverell, NSW, where Peter and his Stained Glass Works business are based.

Desert print shirt tucked into his work khakis, Peter does the 20-step commute across loose gravel to the corrugated 2-car garage. He squeezes past the SUV taking up the first spot – the second is for his studio.

Peter may only take on a handful of jobs each year, but with each needing potentially months at a time, if there’s a project on the go, you’ll find him in the studio most days. Aged 84, Peter plans to work for as long as he can. “I’d be lost without it,” he says.