Welsh firm turns Manchester into a hive of activity
The Manchester bombing may have been over a year ago, but the effect on the city remains.
One Cardiff company is helping the city by drawing on its own area of expertise – model-making.
Specialist Models has designed and produced 97 giant bee sculptures which are displayed across the city to showcase the city’s perseverance and talent.
The project is a collaboration with In collaboration with Manchester event organisers Wild in Art.
Once the art trail of bees finishes in September, the model insects will be auctioned off and the proceeds will go to We Love MCR, the charity set up to help those affected by the Manchester arena bombing a year ago.
The firm’s Kristian Movahed said: “Each project is uniquely different, they can end up anywhere across the world.
“Our relationship with Wild in Art began in 2011 when they wanted to discus a top-secret project, and it ended up being for the Olympic Games in London. We made the infamous Mandeville and Wenlock, the ‘aliens’ they were called – you either loved them or hated them, but we worked with Wild in Art on those.
“They came to us for the bee project. The worker bee represents Manchester in many ways.
“They got in touch in late summer of 2017, which alarmingly was really short-term for a project of this scale.
“It was challenging developing the form of the bee, with several complex elements like the legs and wings. They are beautiful and also vulnerable, and from a production point of view this was something we had to tackle straight away.
“Based on the time available, we would have to make numerous changes to the design until all parties were happy, so to combat this we moved away from conventional methods of model-making and embraced technology.
“We used a 3D model on a computer in order to alter the bee, all parties could move it around until we were happy with the design. This enabled us to fast-track the design process, so within 10 days we had the final bee design.”
He added: “The model balanced the fine features of the bee with the practicality of producing a form to withstand the heavy interaction over several months from the public in the city.
“We didn’t want it to look like a blob, so we managed to find a form that had all the elements we were hoping to achieve, within a matter of days as opposed to several weeks.
“So we 3D-printed the bees, and hand-painted them. There were a lot of people involved, and they were very long days.
“When we received the order for the 97 full-sized bees at the end of 2017, they had to be completed in a four-month period, but we had other projects running simultaneously.
“We quickly decided we needed to expand our workforce and within a matter of days we doubled the size of our team with very skilled freelancers. That’s the advantage of being in Cardiff – we have very large pool of talent who are multiversed in model-making.
“The bees had over 600 legs, and they were all modeled fibreglass and hand-laminated. Fibreglass is very sturdy – car bodies are made from it – so it really stands up to wear and tear.
“We were really pleased with them, and to use technology and local talent in this way was very important to us, for such a great cause.”
Director of Wild in Art, SallyAnn Wilkinson, said: “Wild in Art is delighted to be working with Kristian and the team at Specialist Models in Cardiff.
“The development of the bee was a complex process. It needed to be structurally sound to withstand the rigours of city living for nine weeks and, as importantly, to act as a canvas for artists to create their designs. Kristian worked with Chris Wilkinson, creative director of Wild in Art, to create the giant bee.
“The overwhelming response we have to Bee in the City is testament to Specialist Models’ work on the production of the bees.”