The Art of the Looking Glass

The Art of Reflection

A small body of work has arrived in the shop—and we feel it deserves a proper introduction.

When I was very little, my dad gave me two boxed sets of records: The Hobbit and Through the Looking-Glass. I listened to them over and over and over again, and I still have them in my record collection today.

At the beginning of Through the Looking-Glass, Alice is perched on the mantel with her kitten, wondering what it might be like on the other side of the glass.

“And certainly the glass was beginning to melt away, just like a bright silvery mist.”

That is what Troy M Stafford's looking glasses feel like to me.

Like a portal shrouded in a bright silvery mist.

They are magic.

For more than 25 years, Troy M Stafford has worked in the museum and fine arts world, specializing in the centuries-old art of frame making and gilding. His work can be found in museum collections and private holdings around the world, and over the course of his career, he has had the honor of creating frames for works by masters including Botticelli, Titian, and Van Gogh.

And now, we are incredibly lucky to have a small collection of his work at Pennyroyal.

Troy creates his frames and looking glasses entirely by hand, using traditional techniques and materials that date back centuries.

To create the extraordinary, timeworn surfaces of his looking glasses, Troy begins by painting directly onto raw glass, using sign-painting enamels to create those smoky, ethereal effects. Individual pieces of sterling silver, 12k, and 22k gold leaf are then applied to the glass using the ancient technique of water gilding. The surface is carefully aged and distressed, allowing the layers of paint, silver, and gold to mingle in wonderfully unpredictable ways.

The result is a looking glass that doesn't simply reflect an image—it seems to hold one.

The frames are works of art unto themselves. Paints are made from scratch using natural pigments and traditional rabbit-skin glue. Genuine gold leaf is applied by hand, polished with agate stones, and then aged and distressed until each piece feels as though it has lived another life before finding its way to you.

There is something wonderfully transportive about them. They feel discovered rather than newly made—objects that could have hung in an old Italian palazzo for generations.

Troy describes his work as “objects of beauty, ritual, and intention, inspiring moments of stillness in the everyday.”

We couldn't say it better.

A beautiful collection of Troy's looking glasses is currently hanging in the shop.

Come see them in person. They really are extraordinary.

Troy M Stafford Designs
at Pennyroyal