Kevin Little is shutting up shop — 100 years after Arncliffe Lead Lights and Stained Glass Studio opened.
The studio has been run by three generations of the Little family since it began in 1905.
Mr Little, 85, who took over the business from his father in 1972, said closing was the end of an era.
‘‘We’re the oldest manufacturing business in St George,’’ he said.
‘‘There is not much demand for stained glass any more; the whole trade has gone flat.
‘‘The business comes around in cycles and we’re nearing the end of one now.’’
Mr Little said the business was in his blood.
‘‘It started from when I was a little boy. I was always fiddling with glass and lead.’’
Building a stained glass window is an intricate process — beginning by sketching the design to scale and then doing it full size.
Each individual piece of glass is cut, painted and then stained before being put together.
At the height of its success, the business employed tens of artists with work produced for Sydney Town Hall, Sydney Hospital and St Mary’s Cathedral.
Mr Little, who has been slowly packing up boxes, said the studio closure was not a sad farewell.
‘‘Even though the business is closing, I’ve still got a studio in Robertson I can work in,’’ he said.
‘‘It will allow me to work as freely as I want to.’’
