Ariana Makau

Ariana Makau was six years old when she was given her first set of tools. Her grandfather was a builder, and she learned from a young age that tools could make beautiful things. “It was ingrained in me very early to appreciate building and doing things with your hands,” she says. “Picking up a paintbrush or picking up a saw—those things had the same value to me.”  

Today, Makau is an acclaimed stained-glass conservator and the president and founder of Nzilani Glass Conservation. Based in Oakland, California, the award-winning firm specializes in preserving historical glass for private residences, historic buildings, and museums, as well as creating new glass works.  

Makau first fell in love with stained glass while studying abroad in Paris. She was captivated not only by the beauty of stained-glass windows but by the way they interact with and become one with a building. “I really liked that stained glass was both art and architecture in one medium,” she says. Makau was introduced to art conservation at the J. Paul Getty Museum as an intern and went on to earn a master’s degree in stained-glass conservation from the Royal College of Art in London, the first woman to ever do so. She began her career in the museum world, conserving world-class pieces of stained glass at the Victoria and Albert Museum and Metropolitan Museum of Art.

However, the desire to preserve and create stained-glass windows for buildings and communities—the intersectionality of the piece, its environment, and architecture—kept calling to her. “I was always drawn, even at an early age, to the marrying of windows back into their architectural space,” she says. “I love working on scaffolding and seeing a building change because of my contributions.”  

When Makau founded her company in 2003, she gave it a treasured name, Nzilani, the name of her Kenyan grandmother, bestowed upon her by her father on the day she received her master’s degree. She is proud to be not only a skilled craftsperson and artist but also a successful businesswoman, entrepreneur, and recognized leader in stained-glass health and safety. 

The core values of Makau’s firm say it all: “Be safe. Have fun. Do excellent work.” The Nzilani team of talented artists, craftspeople, and conservators are experts in glass painting, glazing techniques, and structural stabilization, dedicated to preserving and creating art that will last more than a lifetime. Their many projects include preserving stained-glass windows for the iconic Grace Cathedral in San Francisco, restoring the stained-glass dome for Resurrection Church in Oakland, and conserving a Tiffany stained-glass masterpiece for the Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art in Bentonville, Arkansas. 

Makau stresses the importance of accuracy and careful attention to every step of the process, from taking precise measurements and dismantling a window, to rebuilding, stabilizing, and reinstalling the window in its original space. She derives great pride and satisfaction not only from beautiful work but a perfect fit. “I get so excited about something that’s built really well,” she says.

“Working on a building, you have to be deferential to the fact that, first and foremost, the window has to act as a window.”

A trailblazer in the field, Makau cares deeply about nurturing opportunities for young people in underserved communities to enter the preservation trades. “I want to leave a legacy of creating a more diverse group of people who can preserve and create stained glass. We want to be able to open our doors wide to let the next generation in to be trained.” As executive director of The Fillet Foundation, she works to raise awareness of the importance of the trades and elevate the role of the craftsperson in the architectural project. “What we do is so valuable and so unique,” she says. “It deserves to be recognized.” 

When asked what she values most about her trade, many things come to the fore: the variety and challenge of the work, being part of a team, sharing preservation knowledge. Most of all, Makau says, “I love that I can bring something beautiful into the world.”