Mr Foggs Mechanical Mixologist

Working with Rouge projects the idea to create a mechanical mixologist which we could bring to life was an exciting opportunity. The mixologist is a combination of processes which automates the pouring of the perfect Negroni. The project was installed in Mr Fogg’s Society of Exploration in Covent Garden, London.

The machine automatically moves an ice cube and glass through a range of motions which then rotates a wheel of ingredients in order to pour the user a Negroni cocktail.

Here’s a video of the build process, courtesy of the Inception Group and Rogue Projects.


Erith Lighthouse

Erith Lighthouse is a pavilion on the Thames at Erith, designed to host a series of events throughout Summer 2017.

Designed by architects, DK-CM, Nicholas Alexander was able to deliver a process to take the design to a complete fabrication an install.  With the structure made of theatrical rigging clad in coloured polycarbonate sheet, the building was a distinctive and colourful presence on the riverfront.


Tesco ‘Devour’

To celebrate Tescos 20th anniversary of their Finest* range Nicholas Alexander produced a sensory exhibition for BBH and Bompas & Parr in Shoreditch London.

We built 6 spaces which guests moved through, each of these rooms different rooms were based on Tesco Finest* products and had a specific theme.

We created a range of exciting and interactive elements throughout the exhibition, some the the highlights include a sculpture from 200 stainless steel balls, a geodesic mirror maze lit by salt rocks, an interactive mushroom log that reacted to a users touch, and a neon wall which pulsated selected colours.

Heres a behind the scenes video by Bompas and Parr on the build:

DEVOUR behind the scenes from Stephanie Flynn on Vimeo.


Mechanical Chocolatier

We were invited with creating a chocolate themed Rube Goldberg machine, so we looked at the world of the artisan Chocolatier, and thought about how chocolate flows.

This machine takes inspiration from the Chocolatiers counter, and processes bars of chocolate into a fine grated powder for maximum flavour when tasting.

Featuring 300 chrome steel bearings, running around two lifts and several different mechanisms, it creates a mechanical world of sounds, movements and all set on a chocolate base.

The machine was installed in the Harbour City mall in Hong Kong where it stayed for a month during the chocolate festival.


The Slide

Working with the virtual reality masterminds who are Happy Finish, Nicholas Alexander fabricated the structure for their “The Slide” experience to be placed on the 72nd viewing platform of the Shard.

The design consisted of a laminated plywood seat which was formed right here in our workshop and mounted to their motion platform.


Museum of Making

In collaboration with White Arkitekter, The Museum of Making is one of the site-specific pavilions for the 2016 Clerkenwell Design Week in London.

Located on St John’s Square and visible from Clerkenwell Road, The Museum of Making was at the centre of the festival, which celebrates the significance of Clerkenwell – home to more creative businesses and architects per square mile than anywhere else in the world – as a major design hub.

The Museum of Making was made out of Equitone cladding panels arranged in sections to create an open yet sheltered space to bring people together.

Drawing on Clerkenwell’s rich history of craft and industry, it was an active space showcasing the sensorial and social qualities of making. Workshops and demonstrations programmed by curator Pete Collard allowed local residents and festival visitors to meet, mend, and exchange knowledge and services.


Chivas Regal Whisky Pour

Pangolin PR gave us a simple brief – the most complicated whisky pour machine ever made!

We fabricated a Rube Goldberg machine from Chivas distillery parts, brass, oak and copper to match Chivas’s brand palette.

It features a 40mm stainless steel ball which travels along a journey of several lifts and falls, releases a multi-ball section and mechanically pours 2 users a glass of Chivas Regal whisky at the end.

Check out the video for yourself:

 


Jeff Goldblum Sculpture

Nicholas Alexander fabricated a 7 metre long sculpture of Jeff Goldblum in his character of Dr. Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park. The sculpture was erected in front of Tower Bridge to commemorate the 25th anniversary of Jurassic Park.

Manufactured from polystyrene and then finished in scenic paints the result was a true hit with fans and even made its way on to the Graham Norton Show.


Denso Manufacturing Centre

Denso manufacturing UK are a company based in Telford England. Nicholas Alexander was invited to build a range of furniture for their learning centre and foyer area.

The furniture created included:

A large 3M Corian plinth with etched text, an LED detail, and a number of acrylic graphics.

A white Corian trophy cabinet to house there president manufacturing award.

An oval reception plith and a range of laminated desks for their learning centre.

The Corian sheets were etched on our in house CNC and then formed over a mould in sections which would later be joined to created a seamless finish.


The Mobile Orchard

The Mobile Orchard is a new public installation designed by atmos – an inhabitable hymn to the urban fruit tree, commissioned as the centrepiece for the City of London Festival. Its exuberant design celebrates the wonder of trees, and offers a magical mutation – a welcoming structure tailored to humans. We were brought in to rationalise the fabrication process and get it built!

The City of London Festival commissioned the Mobile Orchard for 2013 as part of an ongoing objective to raise awareness of environmental issues through artistic responses to the natural world. Alongside the manufactured tree at the Mobile Orchard’s centre, sixty four real trees, donated by the Worshipful Company of Fruiterers, will travel with it around the City. After the Festival twelve of these will be planted at Middlesex Street Estate to form the City of London’s first community orchard; the remainder will be distributed to schools around the capital. The sculpture itself will be gifted to the Festival’s partner charity Trees for Cities as part of their 20th anniversary celebrations and will continue to be used around the country.

Nicholas Alexander was brought on to handle the fabrication of the ambitious Mobile Orchard. Given our extensive experience of unusual and exciting one-off constructions, and in-house digital fabrication capabilities, we were an obvious choice! Rationalising the build process of such a complex object was the main role for the company – taking what is theoretical in a set of drawings and turning this into an organised and buildable set of components. Given the tight budget and vast amount of labour necessary to complete the fabrication, Nicholas Alexander organised and welcomed into their workshop a diverse group of volunteers of varying skill levels. Everyone had in abundance an enthusiasm and a passion to work together, learning new skills from the team at Nicholas Alexander and seeing the tree develop and grow over the course of a few weeks.

From the architects: It centers on a large, sculptural timber oasis that doubles as immersive summer street furniture – morphing into seating, shelter, stairway and sky-throne. Its undulating roots offer a landscape for lounging, including sinuous benches and molten armchairs that cradle the gaze upwards through the hollow trunk.Massive branches worm outwards to offer further seats, and splay to form fluid steps that lead to a branch-clad throne at the tip of the trunk.A lightweight latticework of aluminium unfurls from the laminated plywood grains to support a canopy of lasercut leaves – each blade a local London borough, with the Host borough further subdivided into wards – the blossom and seeds of the project.Electric LED lighting threads through its veins, uniting base and crown, their sinuous lines like section-cuts that graphically describe the segments of its core geometry, terminating in glowing bulbs of moon-light spots.

The installation is edible – cradling a constellation of real apples, refreshed daily, that are ripe for the plucking by any member of the public. It is accompanied by a choir of young fruit trees that, like the modular nature of the tree itself, will grow over time, awaiting a future in schools and orchards across London.It will host a series of events and performances, including specially-commissioned theatre and music, a Fruit-Feast dinner and an Urban Picnic of gleaned fruit and veg from the team at Feeding the 5,000. The project seeks to create a new kind of public landscape that merges the best of man-made design and organic nature. It offers a labyrinth of complex, intriguing, generous spaces that seek to nourish all the senses – celebrating both natural trees, and the communion of cities.