As part of a commercial enquiry, we were asked to provide leaf samples for a major bar refurbishment in London and, within the brief, asked to upscale our leaf forms to 600mm across. Recognising that this was further opportunity to push the Leaf design in yet another direction, we decided to start our own investigations into the world of surface patination. Bev had experimented with patination on brass and copper whilst doing her degree so we set out to see what the richest surface was that we could create. Over an intense period of R&D she evolved a multitude of different finishes that we have now formulated into four different surface treatments that complement each other beautifully. These are light and dark mottle and light and dark patination.
The added bonus is that we can now manipulate each leaf form, once patinated and lacquered, into far more organic shapes, echoing the singular beauty of autumnal leaves blowing in the wind.
View VideoView Slide Show
Each leaf is cut from a sheet of raw brass by hand then stamped with a fly press to create the leaf veins.
The surface is prepared, then patinated by Bev, using a number of different chemicals; each side is treated separately in up to four different processes, then lacquered to halt the patination process but also to protect the rich surface finish. This and the following studio shots were taken by Simon Bruntnell at Northlight Photography.
Contact us...
Lastly each leaf is hand-bent by iestyn into a variety of different configurations . Once bent the veins are hand polished and each leaf is given a fine coat of matt lacquer.
Contact us...
The end result is a wide variety of individual components that when brought together create a truly stunning organic installation. Here we see the leaves lit by a purple and white LED down-lights.
Contact us...
This is the chandelier we showed at our recent exhibition at Grand Designs Live in London. We tried a slightly different approach, given that we wished to draw people in onto the stand; we created a revolving top plate that turned very slowly at just 1 revolution per minute. We created a leaf pattern on the top plate so that as it revolved the LED down lights created a dappled effect throughout the leaf arrangement.
Contact us...
This image clearly shows how beautiful the brass becomes when lit by a contrasting coloured light.
Contact us...
This awesome shot by Simon Bruntnell shows in one image the movement of the chandelier when revolving.
It must be said that we do not ordinarily expect clients to order this design with a revolving mechanism; having said that we are shortly to be making a 4m long version for a private residence.
Contact us...
Another long exposure, showing the underside of the revolving top plate in more detail. We are currently quoting for a smaller version of this for a private care home specialising in dementia care.
Contact us...