Cabinets have been installed

24 Dec 2015 19:51
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Thursday, 10th December 2015 was a big day. That was when the display cabinets were installed in the museum. They were specially commissioned with a gloss white finish and bright LED lights to make them really good for displaying glass. We ordered 31 from Access Displays and they took twelve weeks to make. The wait was well worth it. They look fantastic!

It took five people over six hours to set them up. Of course, I gave a helping hand. There was a lot to do. It took three hours just to get all the cabinets off the trucks.

Twentyone cabinets were placed downstairs: seventeen so-called F-1200s, which are 1.2 meters wide, nearly 2 meters high, and 40 centimeters deep; and four F-800s, which are 80 centimeters wide. Two sales counters were installed downstairs too. Upstairs we installed eight F-1200s. It was quite a job to get them upstairs since F-1200s weigh 128 kg each, over 280 pounds, plus the packaging. The installers used an amazing stairwalking contraption, with an electric motor, to get them up.

Once the cabinets were in place the installers took a good while to check that all was OK. There was one broken lock; they fixed that. Two bulbs weren't working, out of 282 in total; they fixed that too. There was a very slight defect on the corners of the counters that I hadn't even noticed; they provided replacement inserts for that. They checked the cabinets lined up and were level. It was that degree of perfection that I appreciated very much.

Here are some pictures.

Cabinets downstairs aisle 1

Cabinets along the back wall and middle of downstairs. The cabinets on the right will contain early designs and Mdina glass associated with the Harris family, followed by glass made in the 1970s and 1980s at Isle of Wight Studio Glass.

Cabinets downstairs aisle 2

The cabinets in the middle will show glass made by various studios on the Isle of Wight, past and present. The nearest cabinet will be dedicated to glass made by Jonathan Harris during all periods. The cabinets on the left, which are hard to see in this picture, will contain glass made by Isle of Wight Studio Glass in the 1990s and 2000s.

Cabinets upstairs

These are the cabinets upstairs. We turned the main lights off, just because the effect was so nice! These cabinets will mostly contain Art Deco glass and late Victorian glass. But the two nearest cabinets will be dedicated to special exhibitions, which will change more frequently than the main exhibit.

Sales counters

These are the sales counters. The museum will use the counter on the left and Isle of Wight Studio Glass will use the counter on the right. The counters have concealed LED strip lights, which provide lots of light to smaller items for sale in the top display enclosures.

Sales cabinets

These two cabinets will be used for glass sales by the museum. We will be selling glass from several studios.

Anton Doroszenko, Museum Director

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