For classic suits and classy jewelry, Westporters head to Mitchells. If you’re looking for music, it’s Sally’s Place.
But where do you go for all your custom stained glass needs?
Peter Green's stained glass makes a great window if you want privacy in your tub.
Try Renaissance Studio. It’s a bit off the beaten path — in the back of a handsome home on Imperial Avenue — but it’s a one-stop shop for designing, creating, repairing and restoring stained (and clear leaded) glass windows.
Plus very cool glass etching, bowl making, and anything else your parents told you you’d never make a living doing.
Owner/artisan Peter Green keeps a low profile. He’s been in town since 1969, but last week was the first time I’d heard of him. True, I don’t have a lot of stained glass needs, but still…
Peter — who grew up in Yorktown Heights, and always had an artistic bent — started his Westport business in an old fieldstone ice weighing station next to Nash’s Pond. He then moved to Saugatuck Avenue.
Peter Green and a small sample of his work, outside his studio.
His current digs — the house dates back to 1890 — are very cool. Peter designed all 3 floors to his specs. He’s got a wood shop, a wall where he draws his designs, welding equipment, and hundreds of brushes and jars of pulverized glass.
So who buys stained glass?
Nope — not churches. It’s mostly homeowners, he says, looking to spiff up an entryway, skylight or room divider — or creatively make sure no one from outside can peer into a bathroom. Wine cellars are big too.
When he worked near Nash’s Pond, Peter would close down at midday for a swim. Now he swims at the Y. He hopes to donate a work for their new pool.
“I’d love to give back to one of the few nurturing towns in the country willing and able to make my dreamed-of life become a reality,” he says. Peter is inspired by the philanthropy of Westporters like the Mitchell and Paul Newman families.
Just as his work inspires many others. Even if we’ve never heard Peter Green’s name.
