Corning Museum of Glass
Established in 1951 by Corning Glass Works (now Corning Incorporated) as a gift to the nation for the company’s 100th anniversary, The Corning Museum of Glass (CMOG) is a not-for-profit museum dedicated to exploring a single material: glass. Annually welcoming just under half a million visitors from around the world, the Museum’s campus is home to the world’s most comprehensive collection of glass, the world’s foremost library on glass, and one of the top glass working schools in the world.
Dataflow has been a trusted partner and provider of display and exhibition graphics for the museum for nearly 2 years. The first large-scale graphics project the company completed for CMOG was their New Glass Now exhibit, a 40-year retrospective of advances in glass for artistic applications that attracted visitors and artists from around the world in the Spring of 2019. Dataflow now supplies hundreds of graphics projects and installation services annually for the museum.
Shortly after the mandated lockdown, Dataflow and its subsidiary, JAX Signs, began thinking proactively about the challenges of re-opening the museum, and presented its line of protection products and solutions to the internal COVID response team at CMOG. In order to safely re-open to the public, the team at CMOG entrusted Dataflow to provide acrylic barriers at every customer contact point throughout the museum including retail counters, information desks, admissions booths, cafeterias and food service areas and classroom/studio environments.
The COVID-19 pandemic has presented innumerable challenges to the arts community, but the necessity for inobtrusive safety barriers as well as functional and eye-catching health and social distancing signage is an opportunity to reinforce branding and raise awareness of health protocols. Additionally, the museum was faced with the challenge of incorporating branded social distancing reminder signage throughout the exhibits that was distinct enough to be noticeable, but not out of sync with the overall artistic flow of the museum experience.
The Dataflow team suggested carefully selected design and fabrication considerations to fit the sleek, clean and modern aesthetic of the museum space, including custom curved, hanging and extremely long acrylic partition barriers. Dataflow liaised with the client’s facilities and safety compliance team to ensure all partitions met or exceeded the guidelines for re-opening. Dataflow’s project management and design/fabrication teams worked with CMOG to specify, design and install custom-made, protective acrylic barriers throughout the museum and studio workshop buildings. Each partition was custom-fit to exact dimensions and aesthetic considerations as outlined by the client.
To keep guests informed of social distancing parameters, the museum’s mascot Pierre the Penguin inspired branded and penguin-themed signage.
The entire project was conceived, designed, fabricated and installed within a two-week timeframe from project acceptance. The stakes were even higher as the museum could not legally open until all barriers were in place and approved by their safety compliance officer, which required all hands on deck even through the pre-opening weekend in order to complete the installation and welcome guests back to the museum safely. With everyone pitching in, and with help from the amazing team over at CMOG, the deadline was met, and the final product was something to be proud of. Both their team and ours couldn’t be happier.
