Holy Housing: Stained Glass Walls & Ceiling Fill Cabin with Color & Light

The complete opposite of a minimalist Modernist glass-clad house, this rustic and homey backyard cabin exhibits hand-crafted details, rich dark wood and best of all: a gorgeous array of custom stained glass panels.

Built behind her home in Mohawk, New Jersey, this wonderful work of micro-architecture was constructed by glass artist and jewelry maker Neile Cooper as a private personal retreat.

Her Glass cabin is constructed from reused window frames and spare lumber, evidenced by all of the different shapes and sizes that add character and complexity to the structure. The gaps are filled in not with walls but rather with works of her own art, bringing the entire place to live with flowers, birds, stones, minerals and other natural subject materials.

While she is not in the business of building and selling small homes (alas), her jewelry work features similar themes as do many of her other stained glass creations.

Some of her unique wearable pieces use “real butterfly wings. The butterflies I use are farmed all over the world, and collected when naturally expired. They live out their short winged stage in a protected enclosure. Butterfly farming protects the natural habitat of the butterflies through conservation of the natural vegetation and leaves the wild butterfly population intact. I turn these fragile beauties into heirloom pieces, by pressing them in hand-cut glass and encasing them with a silver alloy. “