In August 2021 we were approached by a client who had a large amount of photographs, posters and personal ephemera that they wanted to fill a stairwell on a property they were renovating.
We did an initial site visit to measure the stairwell and calculate the angles, and discussed the back stories behind the arworks so we could understand their personal narrative. We then took away the artwork to measure and photograph.
We started work on incorporating as much of the artwork as we could into the layout and ended up with 57 frames in total. A last minute substitution included a tall mirror at the top of the stairs to replace 3 existing frames.
After discussions with the client and making some revisions the layout was signed off and the process of frame selection took place, the client was happy to let us take the lead in curating an eclectic mix of different mouldings. As these choices were signed off the frame fabrication commenced. We utilised security fixings for the hanging so that the artworks wouldn’t twist on the wall as the alignment of the tight grid formation was critical to the overall appearance.
During the course of the hanging a few of the smaller frames were re-arranged on the fly. A few of our favorite stand out pieces were a framed sunflower seed from Ai Wei Wei’s installation at the Tate Modern’s Turbine Hall in 2011, a box framed metal ornament with a mirror back and a pair of box framed champagne corks fashioned into chairs (see below).
We think the final result speaks for itself! If you have a stairwell, or wall that you would like to fill with art, please contact us for an initial discussion.
