CASE STUDY / ST GILES HOUSE
Recreating grandeur at a scale made for dreams
St Giles House is one of the UK’s finest houses and home to Nick Ashley Cooper, Earl Shaftesbury and his family. To be given the opportunity to work with such a design was a real privilege.
Given the significance of the property, it was obvious we needed to make something incredibly special. And it was with much excitement, and a healthy dose of trepidation, that we got to work.
This thrilling project began with exhaustive research and a site visit, during which countless photos were taken and measurements made. Nick was hugely knowledgeable about the site having recently gone through a spectacular renovation. His input was invaluable. From this, we created a set of drawings of the building.
Early on in the process, someone suggested as a throw away comment that recreating the brickwork to scale would be amazing. Easy to say, considerably more difficult to achieve!
We went back to our photos and measurements and overlaid the brickwork pattern on the design.
We then used test pieces of material to begin the extremely laborious process of working out how to carve the bricks into the wood. After some refinement of the technique and an exhaustive testing of cutting tools and machine speeds, we managed to create a process that retained the accuracy seen in other elements of the design, alongside practical requirements such as strength and durability. 25,000+ 'bricks' later we had something a bit special on the workbench!
We then used test pieces of material to begin the extremely laborious process of working out how to carve the bricks into the wood. After some refinement of the technique and an exhaustive testing of cutting tools and machine speeds, we managed to create a process that retained the accuracy seen in other elements of the design, alongside practical requirements such as strength and durability. 25,000+ 'bricks' later we had something a bit special on the workbench!
To get the windows to scale was quite the undertaking as well. The muntins/mullions were about 3mm thick and would be far too fragile if unsupported.
We opted to take a sheet of clear polycarbonate and into it carve the glazing bar pattern. A corresponding piece of Lime wood was carved to fit precisely into this pattern. Basically it was marquetry, but with plastic as the substrate. Very fiddly, lots of broken pieces (and nearly spirit) but ultimately successful and a really neat look.
The whole was then carefully varnished to protect it from the life it had ahead.
We then used test pieces of material to begin the extremely laborious process of working out how to carve the bricks into the wood. After some refinement of the technique and an exhaustive testing of cutting tools and machine speeds, we managed to create a process that retained the accuracy seen in other elements of the design, alongside practical requirements such as strength and durability.
Everyone involved was delighted that this was in fact possible and we set about the extremely time consuming task of carving over 25,000 bricks.
Carving the door frames and the minutely detailed windows (including 2mm wide Lime wood muntins and mullions embedded in individually carved polycarbonate 'windows') was a painstaking and time consuming affair. As was applying multiple coats of wax oil
In September 2023, we took the finished bed to St Giles House where Nick and his family were able to welcome the bed into their home.
We even managed to get a drone shot of the bed in front of it's inspiration: