Painting with light: The enduring allure of stained glass Premium

Discover the magical world of stained glass art with renowned artist Asad Hajeebhoy at The Bangalore Room in 2025.

It’s houseful at The Bangalore Room, Indiranagar, on the evening of Easter, 2025. To the packed audience, Asad Hajeebhoy, renowned stained glass artist and founder of Glasscrafters Studio, poses a question.

“Which metal oxide gives a rich red while colouring glass?’

The crowd starts guessing — “cadmium, iron...” 

No one lands the right answer. And then the artist takes everyone by surprise.

“Gold,” he reveals. And it’s a snapshot of what makes stained glass art, an interplay between light and colour, magical.

Hajeebhoy, who has to date worked with around 13 churches in Bengaluru to install or restore stained glass art, has spent a large part of his career in educating people about this centuries-old artform.

Stained glass art, which was largely popularised by churches in Europe in the medieval period, is believed to have its origins in Syria. Some of the earliest examples of stained glass work can be found at the Canterbury Cathedral in England, the Augsburg Cathedral in Germany and the Baume-Les-Messieurs Monastery in France.