Fabrication

Renowned UK sculptor and environmental artist Diane Maclean has teamed up with specialist acrylic fabricators Talbot Designs for her current Solo exhibition, Thresholds, at Chichester Cathedral.  Curated by Jacquiline Cresswell, the solo exhibition is a collection of large scale sculptures, both within and outside the Cathedral, exploring themes of transformation and journey.

Diane Maclean regularly requires expert fabrication for her large scale works, and this exhibition is no exception.  Talbot Designs were brought on board to work on ‘Trinity’, a large suspended sculpture within the Cathedral.  CNC cut  Perspex® Vario Honolulu Pink and hand scrunched 3M colour changing film were combined in the Talbot workshop creating an eye catching circular sculpture.  The sculpture was created double-sided  to allow the 3M film to be sandwiched in between with stainless steel fixings and hanging points.

Perspex® Vario is a live edge produce meaning the edge of the sheet fluoresces brightly under both a UV light source and under ambient light. The surface colour of the sculpture appears to change as the angle of vision shifts.  Within the Cathedral ‘Trinity’ changes colour as visitors move around the space.

The solo exhibition takes place between 22nd June and 30th September with 5 sculptures to view.  Curator Jacquiline Cresswell explains “Thresholds is an exhibition that allows us to consider the purpose of a place like Chichester Cathedral as a space to reflect and discuss the possibilities of the encounter that we might find when we cross over a threshold”.

To view Diane Maclean’s commissions and exhibitions visit her website at www.dianemaclean.co.uk.

With 70 years of experience in the plastics industry, approved Perspex Distribution fabricators Talbot Designs have a huge wealth of knowledge and experience to help realise your project from concept to completion. Find out more: www.talbotdesigns.co.uk.

Fabrication

Norwegian superstar DJ Kygo will be wowing fans with his music and dramatic set design on his current world tour.  Central to his stage show is a unique Perspex® acrylic piano expertly designed by ShowMachine Systems and fabricated by Talbot Designs.  The Talbot company mission “only limited by imagination” was truly tested as the project proved to be one of the most challenging and satisfying in their 70 years fabricating experience.

Kygo has an impressive 69 billion views of his music on SoundCloud and YouTube so it is fair to say this tour is one that many fans will follow with great interest.  When ShowMachine Systems were approached by Kygo’s production team to build the Krystal Grand piano to integrate their technical and design features, they went straight to previous collaborators Talbot Designs for assistance.

Working with a 4 week lead time before the world tour started in Helsinki on 29^th January, the complexity of the project meant time was against them with little scope for testing or mistakes.

The initial designs were created by Kirk Laker, Technical Director at ShowMachine Systems in AutoCAD, and passed to Talbot’s design team who then got to work using Solidworks to import the engineering drawings to support the 12 hours of client consultations needed to finalise the fabrication to mirror the original designs.

The entire piano was created using 25mm thick Perspex® acrylic, aesthetically beautiful however incredibly challenging to fabricate.  The design involved engraved logos being illuminated on the piano sides, however due to the unique fabrication requirements, the sheet had to be pre-engraved before being oven moulded. The complicated staircase design meant it was imperative that the logos were in the correct final position.  Incredibly, the team managed to achieve this within only 1mm variation.

The total weight of the piano was about 220kgs with fabrication techniques including thick sheet moulding, CNC machining, engraving, polishing and integration with a stainless steel framework.

The piano was finished and ready to ship 2 hours before its deadline when the structure was pieced together and secured onto the 120 x 120mm tapered and polished legs. The drawings, Perspex® acrylic components and stainless steel parts all matched each other perfectly which meant that everything came together for the first time with no adjustments needed.

Richard Woolff, MD of Talbot Designs commented “It was one of the most challenging, rewarding and satisfying projects that we have ever completed, which bearing in mind some of the challenges we have overcome in the 70 years we have been fabricating is saying something.  After working so closely with ShowMachine Systems a bond developed between us all and it became less of a job and more of a mission that had to be completed.”

“Working with Richard and his team was an awesome and rewarding experience from start to finish from the moulding of the piano body to the creation of the perfectly finished legs,” said John Jenkins, MD at ShowMachine Systems.  “Through a steep and fast learning curve we worked closely with his brilliant and talented machinists to create two stunning pieces that are now on the Kygo ‘Kids In Love’ global arena tour adding a little magic to concerts for hundreds of thousands of fans all over the world.”  

The tour will make stops across Europe and North America over the coming months and will be at the O2 London on the 25^th Feb 2018.

www.talbotdesigns.co.uk

Approved Perspex® fabricators Talbot Designs produce bespoke acrylic fabrications. Even after 70 years, we are still 100% obsessed with producing amazing things. Nothing gives us greater pleasure than following a project through to the end and seeing the finished creation leave the factory. We have over 250 years of cumulative knowledge to assist you in producing something truly wonderful, so if you’re looking for acrylic plastic manufacturers, look no further.

www.showmachinesystems.com

We are ShowMachine Systems a manufacturer of bespoke stage show technology for artists and companies in the entertainment industry. A collaboration of musicians, technicians and engineers with a passion to create stunning technological systems for live shows and events.

Fabrication

Talbot Designs were commissioned to produce a set of new interactive donation boxes as part of a multi-million pound redevelopment of the RAF Museum London including the RAF Museum Cosford in the West Midlands.  Tasked with managing the project from design concepts to fabrication, the project used Perspex® clear cast and was turned around in 7 weeks to meet the grand opening on 29^th June, Armed Forces Day.  

Donations are vitally important to the Museum so the creations had to have a “wow” factor to draw interest and visibility.  A series of 5 designs were proposed for the project before the preferred design was chosen.  

Celebrating and commemorating 100 years of the RAF, the donation boxes evoke the feel of an aircraft engine decked in RAF colours standing 6 foot high.  The large main cylinder and face glazing all used Perspex® acrylic clear cast, chosen for its clarity and formability in 10mm and 15mm thicknesses.

The nose cones are manually rotated to make the “turbine” spin which makes the exhibit a real hit with young visitors and enhance the fundraising properties of the design.  Creating these moving pieces reinforced the need to produce the cylinder to exact dimensions to ensure the end product runs smoothly for its entire lifespan – in this instance the cylinders were drape formed in 2 halves over moulds within one of Talbot’s 3m ovens and then bonded together.

The project demonstrates the expertise of our approved fabricators Talbot Designs who fused the acrylic fabrication with fibreglass used to create the engine turbine blades and nose cones, and a solid surface base – all seamlessly integrated.

The Royal Air Force Museum London is delighted with the results as are the young visitors who are determined to see who can spin the turbine the fastest!  Boxes arrive at RAF Museum Cosford in late July.

Caroline Smith, Head of Development Royal Air Force Museum said, ‘As part of our Museum transformation it was important to ensure the visibility of the Museum as a charity and to make it easy for our visitors to donate.  We worked with Richard Woolf of Talbot Designs to produce distinctive and effective donation boxes for our sites in London and Cosford.  The time frame was tight in order to meet our opening deadline of 29^th June, the Royal opening of our London site following a £26m refurbishment.  It was exciting to visit the Talbot Designs factory in Finchley to see the progress being made during the manufacturing process.

We are delighted with the Donation boxes and impressed with the professionalism of the Talbot Designs team’.

To find out more about Talbot designs visit www.talbotdesigns.co.uk.

For information about the RAF Museums in London and Shropshire visit https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/.

Further information about RAF Museum London:

The Royal Air Force's story is woven into the history of the United Kingdom, from its formation during the First World War to the role it performs today as the nation's first line of defence.

It's mission, unchanged over 100 years, is to defend the UK, to attack if required, to provide reconnaissance and intelligence, to support in times of humanitarian crisis and to move people and equipment across the world quickly. 

https://www.rafmuseum.org.uk/london/

Fabrication

Perspex® acrylic domes made by Talbot Designs took centre stage at this year’s London Design Week in the form of an aerial installation by acclaimed floral designers, Larry Walshe. They wowed visitors with a gravity-defying showpiece; a real life example of ‘Newton’s Cradle’.

Larry Walshe merged the law of physics with horticulture and entomology after filling five 1.5m Perspex acrylic spheres with mixed botanicals and sculpted curiosities.  At the same time these ‘Newton’s Cradles’ demonstrate Newton’s Third Law, where the swing of a suspended metal ball shows that every action has an equal, opposite action.

This year’s show in March was themed ‘The Science of Design’ and took place at The Design Centre in Chelsea Harbour. The event attracted designers, architects and innovators keen to see inspirational design close up. Newton’s Cradle – in the form of the spherical garden globes - hung from the roof of the centre dome of the London venue with the multi-levelled location enabling visitors to enjoy these unique forms from all angles.

Celebrating over 70 years of “Shaping Industry” Talbot Designs are approved Perspex® fabricators and regarded as the leading manufacturer of Teedy® acrylic domes.  With ovens over 3 meters wide, they are capable of creating some of the largest bespoke Perspex® acrylic domes and Perspex® acrylic fabrications possible.    Teedy® domes can be found crowning the tops of Daleks and even as far afield as observation stations in the arctic.  Using Perspex® acrylic means the domes also benefit from a clarity higher than that of glass while importantly remaining lightweight enough for installations such as this.

To find our more from approved fabricators Talbot Designs visit www.talbotdesigns.co.uk.

View more incredible installations by Larry Walshe at www.larrywalshe.com.

Fabrication

With a reputation for being able to create the impossible it is hard to categorise Talbot Designs.  As specialists in bespoke Perspex® fabrication it really does mean that each project they complete is different.

Whether supplying unique displays for Oxford Street stores, working alongside architects, or producing company signage, the Talbot team maintain their reputation for high quality workmanship and finding solutions to meet testing project requirements.

Talbot MD Richard Woolff comments “we have built a reputation for liking a challenge.  I struggle to remember a time we have said no to a request!  Our team of craftsmen are really acrylic engineers – equally adept at working with architects with detailed CAD drawings as clients walking in with a sketch and an idea.”

As approved Perspex® fabricators they have built an enviable reputation amongst designers and project managers with the fact if they think it can be done, they will find a way.

Let there be light

A recent example of Talbot’s team going the extra mile is well illustrated at Winchester University.  Working alongside Studio 4 Architects, Talbot were tasked with creating unique roof lights designed to appear to be piercing through the building ceiling. 

In order to achieve these complex shapes the technical team at Talbot firstly set out plotting the quirky angles and irregular shapes in CAD to ensure the angels are uniform from above and below the roof space.  Scaled models were then created to test the concept prior to full production.   Lastly the diagrams were used to program their CNC machines to cut the opal frosted Perspex® and create the seamless appearance from roof to atrium.

Aesthetically the units resemble an iceberg from above penetrating the surface and creates questions over what happens below the roof, however the shapes also disguise a more functional use. 

The unique light “spikes” in the roof are designed to reach up to catch low sunlight and transfer it to tapered prisms in the ceiling, efficiently dispersing  the light into the atrium.   At night, the process is reversed and LED lights illuminate the prisms and spikes with colour-changing light from within.

Working with Perspex® day in, day out means Talbot are experts with its properties.  Using the diffusing properties of Perspex® Opal, the sculptures offer maximum light diffraction day and night.

No place like dome

It is a combination of its skilled team, commitment to the best materials and investment in machinery that helps set Talbot apart.  A speciality of the team is creating large Perspex® domes under the Teedy™ range.  They are able to create the largest domes in Europe at up to 2.2m diameter.

This expertise in niche fabrication means demand is very varied and their Teedy™ Perspex®  domes have been used anywhere from museums to TV shows – their domes are even installed in the Arctic Circle where their superior optical qualities of Perspex® are used to help observe the stars.

Talbot has worked with Selfridges to create some dramatic visual displays in-store using their Perspex® domes.  Precision, experience as well as patience was needed in equal measure when Talbot was required to drill a massive 13,000 holes in sequence around a Perspex® sphere.  The end result was spectacular as the holes were filled with sticks of Swarovski crystals to create a huge illuminated pendant.

Visitors to the Selfridges Oxford Street store will have also seen another technique for using domes to create an eye catching retail display.  Perspex® spheres with digitally printed vinyl graphics applied to the surface were illuminated and hung from the ceiling truss to create a dramatic skyline upon entry – another project created and installed on time and budget by the team.

 A head for heights

Don’t be fooled to think that Talbot Designs are only working on large retail or architectural roll outs – their workshop is filled with jobs large and small.    

Traditional signmaking forms a significant proportion of their work.  Recently commissioned to produce Hollywood style built up lettering for the Royal College of General Practitioners (RCGP), the letters sat on top of a new foundation wall, part of a fundraising effort for the RCGP.  Whilst the signage required standard fabrication techniques of laser cutting and forming, in typical Talbot form the installation wasn’t quite as straightforward as normal as the team still needed to install the lettering at the top of the 9m wall!

To find out more about Talbot designs visit www.talbotdesigns.co.uk

In house fabrication

• Laser cutting
• CNC routing
• Drape forming
• Vacuum forming
• Drilling
• Printing

Fabrication

Approved fabricators Talbot Designs have increased production of Melaphone – an ISO certified Polycarbonate speech unit providing protection for workers against airborne transmissions such as Coronavirus.  The Melaphone was originally developed by Talbot Designs founder, Jim Talbot, over 50 years ago with the fundamental engineering remaining largely unchanged to this day.  

In response to current needs to protect vital workers from the threat of viral transmissions, Talbot have integrated the Melaphone with a desk top protective screen, The Melaphone Defender, designed to offer quick and simple installation to protect  customer-facing workers behind the clear Perspex® acrylic fabricated panel.

Installation requires just 4 screws.  The unit enables clear verbal communication, whilst the protective Perspex® acrylic screen provides an effective wrap around barrier against airborne pathogens.

Melaphone has been tested and certified to international cleanroom standard ISO 14644-1 Class 5 meaning no air transmission travels through the speech unit.

The unit has the added benefit of being engineered to ensure clear transmission of speech from both sides of the protector without the need of additional speakers or wires.  This means simple installation and no ongoing running costs.

Talbot Designs welcome contact from manufacturers of protective screens who may be interested in integrating Melaphone protection into their own solutions.

Talbot Designs have been manufacturing innovative bespoke acrylic solutions in the UK for over 70 years.

To find out more about Talbot Designs visit www.talbotdesigns.co.uk

A specific website for Melaphone provides further technical information and installation details – www.melaphone.co.uk.