Wendy de Ruijter & Cora Truijen

Het Ruijtenhuis

Stained glass maker

©Peter van Beek

©Misses Prins

Panes of perfection

Wendy and Cora are making a mark in a man’s world
They have a keen eye for the geometric
Their commission for a piece at Berlage’s villa was a highlight

Wendy de Ruijter and Cora Truijen met through Instagram, they were each owners of their own stained glass making businesses at the time. Their shared passion for stained glass spurred them on to unite forces, to become joint owners of their current enterprise, Het Ruijtenhuis. Their atelier is a cosy space in the heart of a Maker’s hub in The Hague. They not only make stained glass windows, but they also carry out all aspects of the making process, from design to installation of the panes. As two women setting up the business, they have managed to carve out their niche within a predominantly male world. Their reputation for excellence is firmly cemented in the high quality finish they achieve, specifically their eye for geometric precision and an overall instinct for what fits a space.

Interview

©Peter van Beek

©Peter van Beek

Why did you choose stained glass making?: Wendy: The chance to combine the technical with the artistic. It allows you to be able to create and make objects that are not only beautiful and large in scale, but that are useful and carry out a purpose. There is a tangible result at the end of a lot of hard work.
What are your sources of inspiration?: Cora: The city of The Hague always inspires, but more specifically, we’ve recently become enthralled by some antique books we found on 1930s style stained glass designs. It fits with the aesthetic of our work as we make a lot of 1930s inspired windows for buildings throughout The Hague.
What do you love most about this craft?: Wendy: When the moment has come to hold up the finished pane of glass. Throughout the making process it lies flat on the workbench, so to see the result is a wow moment, the reward of seeing the light filtering through the coloured panes of glass is the window as it should be.
Can you name a highlight from your career?: Cora: We were given the honour of making the stained glass windows, all forty of them, for Berlage’s villa here in The Hague. He is both our hero and our muse. Berlage designed the villa for himself, and his family. It is wonderful to have become a part of his design legacy.

Wendy de Ruijter & Cora Truijen are expert artisans: they began their career in 2014 and they started teaching in 2019