The Church of St Mary the Virgin in Shrewsbury is home to world-renowned medieval stained glass installations. The Churches Conservation Trust commissioned us to create a range of heritage interpretation resources to help engage young children with this fabulous collection.
We’ve designed 3 hand-made jigsaws and 6 children’s interpretation boards to complement the existing adult-focused displays. The boards feature lift-the-flap style interactivity to share information about the church’s symbolism and windows. Furthermore, we’ve used magnetic characters based on the glasswork to offer playful ways to connect with the church windows and the environment.
The material allows for play-based engagement with the stained glass characters and stories. It’s been designed to make young children and families feel welcome and at ease in the church environment. We aimed to make interpretation resources equitable and inspiring for a diverse visitor audience with accessible text content and interesting visuals.
The design installations are strongly focused on sustainable interpretation. We have thought carefully about materials and processes throughout the production. Products have been handmade in the UK with responsibly sourced materials and methods. All wood is FSC-certified and the boards have been designed to allow for reuse and mobility.
This church interpretation project links to the previous Children’s Stained Glass Discovery Booklet project.
