Atelier Yvo Vitro - TervilleEverything starts outside a house at 79 route de Verdun in Terville. It looks the same as the others. Apart from one small detail. Instead of an ordinary canopy over the door, there is a glass diamond. The tone is set. The next part is in the garden.
Atelier Yvo Vitro - Terville
Atelier Yvo Vitro - Terville
Atelier Yvo VitroA former vegetable growers’ house, the ambience of its past is still tangible. The clucking of hens, the aromas of vegetables and flowers. Rabbit hutches have now been replaced by art. And since there is no such thing as chance, the property’s owners in the 1930s gifted stained glass windows to Saint-Sébastien de Terville Church. Nowadays, it is the stained glass artist who is hard at work. Under the name Yvo Vitro, he uses nicknames with Portugueuse intonations, the country of his origin, to stand out from the crowd and sign his works.
Whoever discovers the work of Yvo Vitro – Terville in the coming centuries will recognise and respect the craftsman’s work. At least, that’s what Yves Mendes hopes. Because respect is very much the term that applies to this field. As well as respecting the work of a medieval or contemporary style master glass-maker, his mission is to protect the work, skills and know-how of this ancient profession.
Yves Mendes has appropriated the space by creating two studios. One is devoted entirely to restoration, the other houses all the equipment required in a rainbow of colours. Glass, glass paints, jars of grisaille, enamel, kiln, everything is there.
Although we all have in mind medieval or contemporary church windows, here creation rhymes with invention and innovation. Yves Mendes considers and analyses the problems of our world, the same way medieval stained glass master craftsmen used to recount religious society.
Atelier Yvo Vitro - Terville
Lanterne du Jubilé - Atelier Yvo VitroHis major work is the Jubilee Lantern in Metz cathedral. Initially designed to celebrate the 800th anniversary of Saint-Etienne de Metz cathedral, Yves Mendes created a project open to all. A new arrival? Offer a blue or pink lantern. A fervent and proud citizen of Moselle, treat yourself to a blue or green lantern in the colours of Moselle.
Although the original model takes pride of place at the entrance to Saint-Etienne Cathedral, 649 parishes have also acquired one.
Vitraux - Eglise Saint Maximin - ThionvilleYves Mendes is also familiar with the stained glass at Saint-Maximin Church in Thionville. A child of the parish, it was here that his passion for glass and stained glass was born.
The work of the stained glass artist involves several steps. The first one involves prodcuing the model. It may be on a scale of 1/10 or 1/1 according to the project. Next, the pieces of glass are cut from paper templates prepared beforehand. The pieces of glass are joined together by soldering. If the window has to be painted, Yves Mendes uses grisaille and fires his glass at 630 degrees so that the colour takes.
Atelier Yvo Vitro
