Pablo Fanque

This was an exciting project from Founded, asking us to bring their designs and concepts to life. We manufactured and installed some key elements for part of the Alumno student development down in Norwich. Pablo Fanque was an equestrian circus performer from the 1800's whose poster inspired the legendary Beatles song ‘Being for the Benefit of Mr Kite’. Alongside learning the interesting history, we fabricated a huge 9m solid surface poetry wall, signage, zoetrope and display stands to celebrate the story.

The poetry wall was made up of 8 solid-surface panels. Each one was first CNC-milled then painted black, before the top layer finally being sanded back to create the crisp, neat finish. It was fixed in place on a custom-built timber frame, secured with French cleat and screw fixings.

The circus-themed sign behind the reception is made from a Valchromat backer sheet which was CNC cut to let through the protruding 30mm opal acrylic. The acrylic letters were also milled out on the CNC to create the dimensional effect which is exaggerated when backlighted with the LEDs. The smaller details were made from laser-cut acrylic. The bulbs offer a vibrant and lively frame for the text.

We also made a fully functioning zoetrope featuring a jumping horse in homage to Pablo and his antics.