Alibi — Bar & Bites

A tabletop has to take a glass set down on it, an elbow leaning, and something spilled — every night, for years. Glass takes all three: it does not absorb, it does not stain, and a damp cloth is enough.

The piece on the gable has the opposite job. It only has to take sunlight, and sunlight is the one thing glass is not afraid of. Two positions, two kinds of wear, one material — which is why a bar has both made in leaded glass rather than in two different things.

Two jobs in one bar. High on the gable, an oval badge carrying the bar's initial and two glasses, set high enough that the whole room sees it once the lights are on.

Down on the floor, a round table top pieced from red, amber and mirror glass, soldered into one flat surface that will take a glass set down on it. The last step we did at the bar itself: running a bead of sealant around the edge once the top was in its place.

The round top is built around a centre, so every lead line has to arrive at one point — the error accumulates and only shows in the last piece. Red, amber and mirror alternate, so under the bar lights the mirror throws light back while the coloured pieces let it through.

The gable roundel came second and was deliberately made smaller: it is read from across the room rather than at arm's length, so it needs one clear shape and two colours.