There was no real brief written for this project. I was approached by the then Rector Mr David Ward and asked to consider a commission for the new library in Hutchesons' Grammar School in Glasgow. It was to be a Memorial to Sir Alexander Stone who was a former pupil and great supporter of the school. At the time I had an association with the school because of the Cathedral Millennium Window. I also knew Sir Alexander through his involvement and support for the Queen's Park Synagogue Project.

It was agreed that the window should be located in the new library but the theme and the exact placing was not specified although we originally considered using one block of 8 panels running vertically in which to create a work and this was my intention at the outset.

I had been experimenting in a small way, for a while, with glass slumping or melting on various types of forms or moulds and was very attracted to the qualities achievable with this method given the right circumstances and location. This project seemed to offer possibilities for such an approach and I showed the Rector some samples and I was urged to develop a design scheme.

Mr Ward retired before I had a chance to develop the idea much further and left the concept to develop as an idea. After several months, I continued the discussions with his successor Mr John Knowles and the Bursar of the School, Mr Ian Tainsh and Mrs Anne Brown. They also showed enthusiasm for the project.

I had been toying with the idea of using, as a subject, the changes in the subjects and lessons taught in the school since its founding in 1641 but found it almost impossible to get source material to develop the idea further. In discussion with the committee the idea of a history of the School came up and I began looking for a way of doing this.

As with most projects I undertake, the first step is research. I had previously read the two histories of the school and found now that I needed to re-read them and the yearly magazine of the school going back to 1894. It occurred to me, slowly and gradually, that a history of the school taken as a series of quotations like snapshots stretching back through the centuries could be a solution and I began looking for suitable quotes.

Once an idea has formed it can then take root and grow. This seemed to be an almost perfect solution to this project. As the location is a library, I liked the idea of using only texts and lettering, this has been one of my themes over the years. The language of the quotations alone indicates the historical aspect of the project beginning in Old Scots, including a Latin quotation and ending in a quotation from last year. The use of uncoloured window glass is also appropriate as the natural light source is a feature of the library.

After discussions with the committee we agreed that this was probably the way forward and the search for the quotations began in earnest.

Once a selection of quotations had been selected we had another meeting to narrow down the selection to the 18 most suitable. Due to the limitations of the grid the quotations had to be fairly short, a maximum of 288 characters. That was in itself a challenge. The quotations went back and forward to the School for proof reading and checking until the final quotes were agreed.

This project is also unusual in the sense that there was never a proposed design as such merely a list of texts and a sample panel.