Filton Sculptures

Three sculptures were commissioned for a new industrial development at Filton in Bristol, situated by the historic Rolls Royce and former Bristol Aeroplane jet engine factory.

“Jet Bike”, “Turbine Flow” and “Compressor” are all made from polished stainless steel, and include compressor fans from a Rolls Royce Pegasus engine, which belonged to an RAF Hawker Harrier jump jet which saw active service. The designs were developed from images of turbulent flow in wind tunnels and in cloud structures.

During fabrication of the sculptures I discovered that they made beautiful noises when you knocked them – the curves of the strengthening structure I designed had unexpectedly created tuned resonances of different notes which was a delightful surprise.

I was assisted in the fabrication of these three sculptures, each of which stands some three meters high, by my highly skilled partner Lucien Hewitson of Didafab, and I am most grateful, as always for his fine efforts. And I also thank my daughter Coco who helped out with the many hours of polishing required to realise the project. The commission was brilliantly managed by Diana Hatton and funded by the St Francis Group.