Swan Farm Studios Ltd
                                                                                                                               CASE STUDIES
New designs for historic contexts
The Royal Barge Sculptures
Jonathan Marsden, Director of the Royal Collection and Surveyor of The Queen’s Works of Art
In  December 2011 Alan was commissioned to  design  a sculpture for the
prow of the Queen’s Royal Barge for the Diamond Jubilee. The brief was set
by Emmy award-winning Production Designer Joseph Bennett, and the
design was approved by The Thames Jubilee Pageant Committee and
Buckingham Palace. The design was inspired by the state coaches and
barges of the 18th century.
The master for the prow sculpture was modelled using over two tonnes of
clay. A cast was then made made in acrylic resin. This was oil gilded using
300 books of 22ct gold leaf. Some elements of the sculpture were then silver
leafed or glazed with tinted oil varnish to nuance the colour of the gold. The
finished prow sculpture stretches fourteen metres around the prow of
the boat
.
The commission expanded to include the design and manufacture of
 the Royal Arms, The Queen’s Personal Cipher, the Jubilee Medallions
and the sculptural work for the Royal Canopy. As designer and master
sculptor Alan co-ordinated  a team of over forty craftspeople,
including staff and students From The City & Guilds of London Art School
2006 / 2012 St George’s Chapel, Windsor Castle  Client - The Dean and Canons of Windsor. For 6 years Alan guided the creation of over 30 new sculptures for St George’s Chapel Windsor, working closely with their Sculpture Committee, Cathedral Works Organisation and mentoring a team of talented young Sculptors .
2011/2012 St Pancras Sculpture Garden. Client - The Corporation of London. The design and creation of 18 elaborately carved oak benches, leading a team                    of 10 wood carving students. The designs reference the Romanesque church that stood on the site before the Great Fire of London.
Workshops Fusion The Carving Workshop Jackfield Tile Museum National Trust Estate Office Yard Ironbridge Coleshill Shropshire Oxfordshire TF87 7AP SN67 PT Swan Farm Studios Ltd Registered Office,  Ferry Cottage, Quatford, Bridgnorth, Shropshire WV15 6QL
Alan Lamb e: info@alanlamb.co.uk Tel: 07815605540
“What you achieved in this very limited and enclosed space is miraculous....an extraordinarily
stimulating expression of continuity and modernity.”
Bob Hall,
Chairman of the City of London's Open Spaces and City Gardens Committee
“Visiting the studio to find mountains of clay being transformed into river 
 gods, trophies, cornucopiae and bouquets of shells was the
nearest anyone today could come to witnessing the studio of a great baroque sculptor such as Bernini at full tilt”
Britannia and Old Father Thames In the Museum Of London
nostrud commodo amet.
I

Workshops facilities and approach

Joinery and woodcarving conservation

Replacement and facsimile carving

Gilding and Polychrome

Sculpture conservation

New Design for Historic Contexts

  
Case Studies

   CLEANING,  CONSOLIDATION & 

REPAIR OF JOINERY,  CARVING, 

SCULPTURE,  WOOD FINISHES, 

POLYCHROME, & GILDING

               Director Alan Lamb