Shed Brand Studio is a unique and historic member of the stained glass Charlotte NC artistic community. These stained glass experts have been providing their services for over 50 years. In the studio today, Shaylor and Natalie Knight create everything from custom leaded and stained glass windows and custom solid wood doors to cabinets, table tops, and custom jewelry.
Shaylor Knight’s grandparents and parents first started the business making stained glass windows in a sheep shed in Charlotte in 1969. Slowly, the Knights moved into custom doors and restoration projects for decades-old stained glass. In 1988, the studio was moved to Dilworth.
Inheriting the tradition of his family, Shaylor learned how to hand bevel glass from his grandmother and how to build Tiffany-style lamps from his grandfather. Today, Shaylor and Natalie’s son, Elijah, is also learning the family trade of stained glass Charlotte NC.
Team Effort
Natalie joined the Shed Brand Studios team full-time in 2014. An MFA holder, she taught fine arts for nearly two decades across Charlotte. When she first joined, Natalie shared that one of her goals was to make the studio feel accessible to everyone versus just architects, contractors, and cabinet clientele. As a matter of fact, adding in classes to the public was a way to provide the best portal into the production process for stained and fused glass designs, and to use Natalie’s extensive skills in the teaching field.
“Shaylor may not have a degree in fine arts, but he doesn’t need one,” his wife, Natalie, explains. “The level of training he has received is invaluable and irreplaceable. Not many people know how to build a curved leaded glass panel, or design and create painted glass pieces. [Shaylor] lived and breathed stained glass.”
Here, Natalie tells us more about the studio, the generational tradition, and what it means to make art out of glass.
How do you two work together?
Shaylor and I share the role of laying out designs and creating drawings. He prefers to draw flowers and I like to draw trees and landscape design. All in all, Shaylor and I work well together. Certainly, we don’t see each other that much at work. That’s because he is constantly moving, checking on the production of stained-glass windows and overseeing custom door builds. In between the spaces, he meets contractors and clients to go over their projects, obtain measurements, and review design concepts. While he is handling that part of the business, I am running the showroom, meeting with clients, working on drawings for new front entryways and stained-glass windows, and making sure we have the supplies needed to complete projects.
Who is your typical clientele?
Our clientele fluctuates from residential, contractors, architects, and churches to cabinet companies. Plus, sometimes it’s just the average person that pops in to purchase a small gift for somebody. Furthermore, twenty percent of what we produce yearly is for churches and the remaining 80% for residential and businesses.
Tell us about the class offerings and why that’s been an important part of your business.
Nurturing community involvement and passing on the stained and fused glass knowledge helps people understand and appreciate the process and level of work that goes into even the simplest of designs.
What are a few particularly memorable projects?
The 1920s peaco*ck windows from London, England. The entire wood jamb and leaded glass panel had to be restored and rebuilt.
How can people support Shed Brand’s work?
They can come visit the studio and take a class. Additionally, they can pop by during the gallery crawls to see some of the latest projects that we’ve been working on. Our mirror Moravian stars may just be the newest sculpture piece they will view.
Can you tell us about any upcoming projects you’re excited about or anything else you’d like us to know?
We have a beautiful front entryway that contains a book matched dogwood tree. The tree is in the main door and the branches extend into the sidelites and transom above. It’s going to look amazing! The glass dome that we’ve been working on for a few years on and off is filled with jewels and lamberts hand-blown glass. At the moment it doesn’t have a permanent location, it’s simply a project that we just had to do. Shaylor and I can’t wait for it to come to fruition.
shedbrandstudios.com
@shedbrandstudio
Sunny Hubler
Sunny is QC's editor and a journalism professor at UNCC.
