Phoenix from ashes

A eureka moment came when, hidden under a single light switch, the original oiled wood finish was discovered which, following chemical analysis, was replicated.

Charles, who worked on the project for five years, said: “It was a fantastic privilege being in a Mackintosh interior for so long.

“It’s a wonderful interior with sophisticated use of space, light and shadow. The whole Oak Room is a theatre set – a foil for the lighting scheme.

“Seeing the brilliance of the Mackintosh vision emerge from a stacks of planks of dirty damaged painted wood was so exciting – like a phoenix rising from the ashes.”

Also discovered beneath the layers of paint was the distinctive pink glass Mackintosh had used.

The glass and lighting was where the expertise of Moira Malcolm of Rainbow Glass came in.

Luckily, of the three different types of glass-light fittings used there were surviving examples of each.

The first job was to make replacement lights for those lost, and they commissioned specialist glass blowers in Germany to recreate one of the two types of glass used in the scheme – a gold, pink and purple streaky glass.

The original leaded glass windows which would have glazed the building were gone but Moira did have photographs of the room.

“As the blue enamel opaque glass does not need natural light, we deduced it was the pink, purple streaky glass that was used on the windows,” she said.

“A century ago it would have been the most opulent colour so only small amounts were used – they’re like velvety purple jewels in the dark oak.

“The dark finish of the wood contrasts with the rich gold pink glass and the deep blue of the teardrops.”

The conservation journey was long and painstaking, involving a small team of experts, but at long last, the tearoom was awoken from its slumber.

Now the centrepiece at V&A Dundee’s Scottish Design Galleries, it brings joy to visitors from across the globe.

The theatrical art nouveau masterpiece features some of Mackintosh’s finest details, such as slender wooden columns, a delicate balcony and pink glass lampshades.

Meredith More, the curator at V&A Dundee, loves the “sense of discovery” as she walks through the Oak Room – “especially the dramatic opening up of the room as you pass by the staircase to enter the double-height space, which is flooded with light”.

“The tall wooden structures in this space look like trees stretching up to the ceiling, and as the hanging lights and coloured glass details glint in your eyeline, you almost feel like you’re in a wooded clearing,” she said.

“The Oak Room really demonstrates Mackintosh’s admiration for the natural world, and his skill in interpreting it in architectural form.”

Meredith said it feels “right” to have this Mackintosh masterpiece, which has been unseen for decades, at the heart of the Scottish Design Gallery at V&A Dundee.

“This is not an architectural drawing or a reconstruction – this is a rare chance to step into an original room, to see for yourself the way all his carefully planned details work together to create the overall effect,” she said.

“Interestingly, when many people first enter the Oak Room, they think it might be a ship’s interior. It must be all the wooden panelling.

“But for visitors familiar with Mackintosh’s work, it can bring back strong memories of the library at Glasgow School of Art, now sadly destroyed, but which was designed and built about the same time as the Oak Room.

“The two interiors share many similarities, such as the rich colour of the oak panelling and the clusters of hanging lights.”

The film reveals the fascinating conservation and restoration process that made it possible for the Oak Room to be displayed at V&A Dundee.

“Curators, conservators and other specialists worked together to interpret the surviving documentation, examine hundreds of bits of panelling and other fittings, and decide how to piece all this back together in a way that would best reflect Mackintosh’s original intentions,” said Meredith

“The film reflects that this was a real collaborative effort, requiring the skills and expertise of many different people.”