Sculptures & art
Metal as sculpture.
From a sketch, a maquette or a digital form to a finished object.
- Idea
- Drawing
- Hand
- Metal
Someone has to actually make the artwork.
Commissioned metal artwork, from hand-beaten wall reliefs to freestanding installations built from hundreds of cut profiles.
Art commissions arrive in the least resolved form of anything we build: a maquette, a rendering, sometimes a sketch. Turning that into a physical object means deciding things the artist did not have to — how it stands up, how it is fixed, how it is transported, and how it will look in ten years.
We work in two directions. Digitally, by slicing a form into profiles that are laser-cut and assembled. And by hand, where a sheet is beaten, formed and chased into shape by a craftsman who can see the form developing.
Most of the pieces we are proudest of use both.
- Freestanding and site-specific sculpture
- Wall reliefs and cast panels
- Laser-cut profile-built forms
- Hand-beaten and repoussé artwork
- Suspended and ceiling installations
- Decorative objects and one-off artefacts
Eight steps, one workshop.
01Concept
It starts as a sketch, a maquette, a digital model or a sentence. We ask what the piece must do in its space before we ask what it is made of.
02Drawing
The idea becomes drawings: the form divided into parts that can be cut, formed and joined, with the structure that will carry it worked out on paper.
03Cutting
Flat sheet is cut on the CNC laser into the profiles the drawings call for, precisely enough that the parts meet without forcing.
04Forming and joining
Parts are bent, rolled and raised into shape, by machine and by hand, then welded. Joints are placed where the form can hide or carry them.
05Grinding
Welds are ground back and dressed until the joint disappears into the surface, so the piece reads as one form, not an assembly.
06Polishing and texture
The surface is brought to its finish by hand: polished, brushed, hammered or left with the marks of the tool, depending on the piece.
07Finish and patina
Colour and patina are developed on samples first and approved before they go on the piece, so the finished surface is the one that was agreed.
08In its place
The piece is installed on its fixings and checked in its own light, where its surface and shadows are finally seen as intended.
The hand leaves a mark. We keep it.
Questions & answers
Questions about sculpture
Can a sculpture be made from a small model?
That is the usual route. A maquette in clay, card or a 3D model is scaled up, and the work is in the translation: a form that holds itself at hand size has to carry its own weight at full size, survive installation, and stand on a base that does not show. The artist’s intent is protected by agreeing the finish on a sample rather than in words.
Will a patina on a sculpture keep changing?
Yes. A patina is colour grown in the metal, and it goes on developing — faster outdoors, where rain runs and hands touch. That is usually the point. If a fixed colour is wanted, the sculpture is either lacquered, which stops the change, or made in a metal and finish that does not move.
Send us something unusual.
A sketch, a maquette, a photograph of a form you saw somewhere, or just the idea. We will tell you how it can be made in metal, what it involves and how long it takes.
Start a project
Have something extraordinary in mind?
Send a drawing, a sketch, or a photograph of something close to it. We will tell you what is buildable, what it costs and how long it takes.