Dominique Jurić, an academically trained painter, is the only person in Croatia who specializes in stained glass manufacture, and, in addition to this, is the only person who graduated from the stained glass module at the Academy of Fine Arts. She inherited the Staklić Art Glass Atelier from her father, who had worked with glass since 1955, and who founded Staklić Crafts in 1984. Today, the atelier is run by Dominique.
After graduating in painting and receiving additional instruction in the stained glass technique in France and Switzerland, she has breathed new life into the old family shop. Trained in glassmaking, she has applied what she has learnt there to the making of stained glass, thus creating real works of art. That arts and crafts are by no means mutually exclusive is evident from Dominique’s example. While being an artist, she still provides ordinary services, ranging from cutting and grinding glass objects to making glass for tables, cupboards, or cases.
In addition to making nonreligious stained glass objects for private use, she also makes stained glass objects for homes and offices. Relying on her artistic background, Dominique matches stained glass with light, colors, and material giving it the character of a painting.
Photo: Davor Puklavec/PIXSELL
The technology of stained glass making involves templates, cutting and working glass by hand, and adjusting lead profiles which support the construction. Apart from being made exclusively by hand, with Dominique doing everything from sketch to mounting, stained glass requires an extremely demanding technique that only few people in the whole of Europe know how to apply.
As a unique representative of this magic technique, Dominique has created several collections with a view to making stained glass more accessible to a wide range of people. Her collection Zagreb in Glass features five recognizable Zagreb motifs: the Lotršćak Tower, Kamenita vrata [Stone Gate], the lantern, the tram, and the Šestine umbrella.
Apart from the souvenir line, there is also Gabriel’s Gallery, which she started by making Christmas glass ornaments and has developed it by adding some other elements to it.
During the year she organizes children’s art workshops devoted to making stained glass using transparencies so that the youngest ones could familiarize themselves with the play of colors and light on a unique model. A special art atelier, with few peers in Europe, is the best proof of Dominique Jurić’s efforts to keep the traditional glassmaking craft alive, saving it from oblivion.
