Pop Art sculptures made for Utilita's head offices.

UK energy supplier Utilita asked us to transform the preexisting architectural columns in their headquarters. We made the columns into giant Pop Art gas pipes, running through the offices!

The idea for the sculptures came from an 11 metre custom Pop Art mural that we illustrated for Utilita in January, that showed gas pipes, electrical cables, electrical outlets, gauges, dials, and smart energy meters. Take a look at the mural project here.

In the design stage we took inspiration from Pop artist Claes Oldenburg’s sculptures. He made giant versions of everyday objects for public display including sculptures of handsaws half buried in the ground, matchsticks setting alight and an ice cream melting down a building!

We started by designing the project using computer software. One of the biggest challenges was to design a system to connect the objects to the building’s columns without using any screws or glue. We created a tensioned clamping system, hidden from view inside the sculpture.

Utilita loved our proposal, so we set about fabricating the pieces in our workshop. We used a combination of CNC and hand machined parts, assembled with traditional joinery techniques before being hand painted to bring the design to life.

We installed the sculptures in Utilita’s offices and were super happy with the outcome, they’re fun and eye catching with some of that Pop Art feeling.