Patterned & textured glass
Patterned glass is squeezed between textured rollers so a design gets pressed right into the surface. That texture scatters the view for privacy and softens the light, all without giving up much of the glass's brightness.
How patterned glass is made
Patterned glass (also called rolled or figured glass) skips the float process entirely and is made by rolling instead. Molten glass runs between two rollers, at least one of them engraved, which presses the pattern into one or both faces as the sheet goes through. Out comes a continuous textured sheet, usually 3–10mm thick.
Since rolling never gives you the mirror-flat surfaces of float glass, the optical quality is lower on purpose: look through it and objects go soft and blurry rather than sharp. That fuzziness is usually the whole point.
Common pattern types
Obscurity levels
Patterned glass is usually specced by its obscurity, basically how thoroughly it blocks the view through. It is a rough scale, low, medium, or high:
- Low obscurity: Light surface texture. Outlines of objects visible but details indistinct. Examples: Satinlite, Arctic.
- Medium obscurity: Moderate pattern depth. General shapes visible but no facial recognition. Examples: Linen, Reed.
- High obscurity: Deep pattern. Objects appear as blurs of light and color only. Examples: Flemish, Rain, Cathedral, Hammered.
How obscure it actually reads depends on pattern depth, viewing angle, and how close you are. Distance flips it: a pattern that is only medium-obscure across the room can look high-obscure with your nose right up against it.
Safety and fabrication considerations
Patterned glass comes off the line as annealed. So anywhere safety glazing is required, shower enclosures, sidelites, low glazing, it has to be tempered or laminated after rolling, just like any other glass.
Not every pattern comes in every thickness, and maximum sizes vary with pattern depth and maker. Acid-etched glass gets you a similar privacy effect a different way: the surface of ordinary float glass is uniformly roughened after the fact (sandblasted or chemically etched), giving a smooth matte look instead of a cast texture. Because it starts as float, it keeps float's dimensional accuracy and comes in larger sizes.
Common applications
| Application | Recommended pattern | Safety glazing needed? |
|---|---|---|
| Bathroom windows | Flemish, Rain, Cathedral | Yes if low or near tub/shower |
| Office partitions | Linen, Arctic, Satinlite | Yes if in hazardous location |
| Cabinet glass doors | Any low–medium obscurity | No (typically) |
| Shower screens | Rain, Flemish, Mistlite | Yes, must be tempered or laminated |
| Decorative interior screens | Glue chip, Cathedral | Depends on location |