Having exhibited at Baltic, they felt they had reached a "glass ceiling" in terms of exhibiting their own work in the region, and they founded Workplace in August 2005.
With a private sector background she is untypical of her peer group, but says: "I manage all the equality leads in north-west London and I know from them that there is a ceiling in terms of how far they can go in the NHS and when they do try and spread out they are seen as being in a niche role".
What's more, since the 1990s, evangelicalism has pretty clearly hit a demographic ceiling in terms of the number of Americans being reached by its appeals: It's filled part of the void left by Catholic-Mainline decline, but not enough to compensate for American Christianity's broader institutional decay.
"I think we have the break glass ceiling in terms of deterministic design," he said.
Samsung's smartphone fortunes are the subject of major scrutiny at the moment, since the company is perceived as possibly having hit a ceiling in terms of growing its overall share of the market.
And here's more good news about advancing in this firm with 1,200 employees—"there's no ceiling" in terms of how far a scientist can go, with or without a Ph.D., he adds.
That's a huge boon for developers working on software for the devices, and of course it should also provide a very convincing counter argument to critics who say that Apple may have reached a ceiling in terms of how much further it can push its smartphone business growth.
These do not necessarily add up to the credentials to take the managerial post at one of the great names of English football, albeit a club that may just have hit the glass ceiling in terms of Premier League position with a sixth-place finish under Moyes last season.
And so it is with the 2012 All Blacks, who kick off their autumn campaign against Scotland at Murrayfield on Sunday: just when you thought rugby had hit a glass ceiling in terms of fitness, pace and technical proficiency, Steve Hansen's outfit have found another dimension and moved things on again.
Other candidates have commented on the debt ceiling in terms of how they would react as president to any proposed deal.
