New Blades 2014 - Congratulations!

We'd like to congratulate all of yesterday's New Blades exhibitors for a stunning display of exceptionally high-quality models.

For the fifth year in a row, the candidate picked out by Berry Place for 'Best Product Model' went on to win overall 'Best in Show'. The winner of the award this year was Tom Bridges (AUB), with his exquisite 1920s-1950s microphone designs and impressively engineered car model.

We'd also like to congratulate 4D Modelshop for another successful show (22nd Annual Show) and, of course, congratulations to The University of Hertfordshire, Arts University Bournemouth, University of Bolton, University for the Creative Arts, Northbrook College Sussex and City of Glasgow College for helping to nurture such creative model making graduates.

Today at New Blades 2014

As sponsors of New Blades 2014, Berry Place has the challenging task of picking this year's 'Best Product Model' at the invite-only Awards ceremony. It's never easy as the quality of models this year have, once again, been exceptionally high.

The overall winner of 'Best Product Model' will invariably blend multiple modelmaking, crafting and industrial techniques to create a stunning high quality model. Over the past four years, all 'Best Product Model' winners chosen by Berry Place have coincidently(?) gone on to win the prestigious 'Best of Show'.

Here are several product models on display at the show which caught our eye.

Oskars Pantelejevs

Tom Bridges

Lizzie Holleyman

Annabell Arch

Magnus Yule

More information on the exhibitors, institutions and sponsors can be found here

Enfield at War 1914-1918

Enfield Museum is currently marking the centenary of the start of the First World War with an exhibition illustrating how the conflict affected the local community, and how the London borough contributed to the war effort.

One notable event that occurred on September 3rd 1916 was the attack on the German Airship Schütte-Lanz SL.11 by Lt. William Leefe Robinson, which caused it to ignite and crash in a nearby field in Cuffley, Hertfordshire. This was first airship to be shot down over England and made Leefe Robinson a national hero, later receiving a Victoria Cross for his service.

Berry Place was commissioned to recreate the SL.11 airship and Leefe Robinson’s B.E.2c fighter in miniature to welcome visitors to the exhibition.

Berry Place was actually quite familiar with the Schütte-Lanz SL.11, having previously modelled it in a larger scale for the Imperial War Museum London’s Extraordinary Heroes Exhibition. The smaller scale of 1:72 (although still large at 2.5m long) allowed the construction to be executed differently than before. Rather than applying individual panels and fabric to a sub frame, it was instead made from 5 SLA built sections over an aluminium core support.

Due to the comparative small scale of the B.E.2c fighter plane, a heavily modified model kit was utilised, with many details replaced with custom made brass parts to strengthen the model so it could withstand display in a public venue.

The exhibition is currently open and runs until 11 January 2015. www.enfield.gov.uk/museum

Harrods 100 Awards

Berry Place recently completed one hundred trophies for Harrods internal awards evening, The ‘Harrods 100’. This exclusive annual event recognises and rewards one hundred of Harrods top employees for their unique sales talent and exceptional customer service.

The stunning geometric black and gold-accented trophies comprise of two pieces held together magnetically, which part to reveal individually engraved and in-filled brass plaques.

 

With over 3,000 employees competing for a place, employees have to achieve well in excess of £1m in annual sales to qualify - some exceptional salespeople achieving as much as £8m!

 

https://www.harrodscareers.com/our-people/harrods-heroes/harrods-100/

Client-MadeThought.

Berry Place presents 'Brand of the Year' at 2014 Design Week Awards

As sponsors of the Design Week Awards 2014, David Austen, Managing Director at Berry Place, presented the prestigious 'Brand of the Year' award to ITV.

‘ITV’s rebrand was a brave commitment that paid off, and a strong signal of the power of design.’

Other nominees in the category included Channel 4, Barclays and the Prince's Trust - more information on all the nominees here

Berry Place @ the DesignWeek Awards 2014 from Berry Place on Vimeo.

New Faces at Berry Place

You may have noticed recent changes to the ‘meet the team’ page. This year we are proud to announce the arrival of two new exceptional model makers at Berry Place - Andrew Scoones and Paul O’Brien.

Andrew, a former Berry Place freelancer and graduate of the University for the Creative Arts, Rochester, ‘officially’ went full time last year. Andrew’s advanced and wide-ranging skill set (including moulding, casting and spray finishing) is matched only by his keenness to try new processes.

Paul joined us more recently in February 2014, having worked for various architectural model making companies and graduating from the Institute of Art Design and Technology in Dublin. Paul also has experience building larger scale models, having worked at prop companies and set builders around London and Dublin.

How the Creative Review Annual Trophies are Made...

See how the iconic Creative Review Annual Trophies are made, with footage direct from the studio at Berry Place, sponsors of the Creative Review Annual 2014.

Follow Berry Place and Creative Review on Twitter

Centaur Awards

For many years we’ve worked closely with Centaur to produce stunning awards for several of their leading publications and departments.

We are very pleased to be working with Centaur again this year on the Design Week Awards, Creative Review Annual and the Creative Review Photography Annual. As proud sponsors of the Design Week Awards and the Creative Review Annual Awards (http://www.creativereview.co.uk/the-annual/sponsors), we very much look forward to the upcoming festivities.

Look out for the upcoming ‘Making of the Creative Review Annual Awards’ video currently in production.

Krug Slate Menus

Berry Place recently completed 150 bespoke table menus exclusively for Krug Champagne. Created from real slate, the menus indicative design communicated the brand by adopting the distinctive silhouette of a Krug Champagne bottle.

The natural properties of slate necessitated the bottle profiles to be cut by water jet, to avoid any fracturing or chipping of the material.

A gold edging and screen printed ‘Krug’ logo to each face completed the branding, with the variable champagne listings to be hand scribed in chalk as required.

Packaged in sets of three, the menus were presented in foam lined gift boxes with a prominent Krug logo print to the cover, for distribution to exclusive London clubs.

Client - Chic London

End client -  Krug Champagne

Props for Macmillan

A recent project on behalf of Macmillan Cancer Support involved the creation of several models to be used as props for a series of advertisements, including a dumbell, coffee cup and sand sculpture.

To create the sand sculpture, text outlines were CNC machined and sculpted over with a sand and PVA mixture, then dressed with appropriate beach paraphenalia. The dumbell was cast and finished with laser-cut text.

The Macmillan team was delighted with how the final images looked and we hope they help convey the crucial message that nobody should face cancer alone.

Stay up-to-date with all the support Macmillan offers to people affected by cancer, their campaigning activity and opportunities to fundraise for Macmillan at www.macmillan.org.uk/getinvolved

Client - Macmillan Cancer Support