As regular clients of ours, Ralph Lauren come to us for high quality props for their seasonal retail displays and window schemes.

The moulding process

We were asked by Ralph Lauren if we could replicate two of their heavy bronze horse sculptures in a lighter material that would mean less expense for them when shipping them to all their new store openings.

Very intricate moulds

The original bronzes that we took moulds from were very expensive and we weren't able to cut them down in to smaller manageable sections to mould from, so a very intricate silicone mould was taken from them. There were many sections to the mould casing and some of the parts on the horses to be cast were very small so laying up the fibreglass in to the finished moulds had to be done with great care

Cast fibreglass polo players

Once out of the moulds we had to finish them by removing any excess fibreglass that inevitably ends up where the seams are

Primed and ready to go

Once they were sanded and finished we primed them with a cellulose filler primer and the second, finer finishing could take place

Bronze effect horses

Here are some of the finished bronze effect horses. Each bronze has two horses and two riders which is evident of the intricacy of the moulds

More bronze effect horses

Here are the single polo players on horseback ready to be packaged and sent all over Europe to Ralph Lauren stores and outlets.

In house

A double horse and riders finished bronze effect prop on show in a Ralph Lauren store in Bicester Village Retail Park

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  The moulding process

  We were asked by Ralph Lauren if we could replicate two of their heavy bronze horse sculptures in a lighter material that would mean less expense for them when shipping them to all their new store openings.
• <

  >
  

  Very intricate moulds

  The original bronzes that we took moulds from were very expensive and we weren't able to cut them down in to smaller manageable sections to mould from, so a very intricate silicone mould was taken from them. There were many sections to the mould casing and some of the parts on the horses to be cast were very small so laying up the fibreglass in to the finished moulds had to be done with great care
• <

  >
  

  Cast fibreglass polo players

  Once out of the moulds we had to finish them by removing any excess fibreglass that inevitably ends up where the seams are
• <

  >
  

  Primed and ready to go

  Once they were sanded and finished we primed them with a cellulose filler primer and the second, finer finishing could take place
• <

  >
  

  Bronze effect horses

  Here are some of the finished bronze effect horses. Each bronze has two horses and two riders which is evident of the intricacy of the moulds
• <

  >
  

  More bronze effect horses

  Here are the single polo players on horseback ready to be packaged and sent all over Europe to Ralph Lauren stores and outlets.
• <

  >
  

  In house

  A double horse and riders finished bronze effect prop on show in a Ralph Lauren store in Bicester Village Retail Park

What we had to do

This time, we were asked by Ralph Lauren to replicate two of their heavy bronze horse sculptures in a lighter material for all their new store openings, meaning that they would be less expensive in both a manufacturing and shipping aspect. Yet, like any props for retails displays, the sculptures still needed to be high quality and robust.

For this we needed to think about design, material and of course, time. We were also dealing with making up to forty versions of the same prop and we had to make the mould around the existing bronze sculpture which we weren’t allowed to break down in to smaller, more manageable parts

How we did it

We opted for a silicone mould and cast job so that each bare product would look exactly the same. Each mould was incredibly intricate as they had to be made in several pieces. The finished casts were then painted with primer ready for the bronze paint effect.

However, it’s in the painting where the differences can occur between the products. But thanks to our experience and expertise as scenic artists, we knew just how to make sure that every single paint job was replicated perfectly.

The result

As always, it was a privilege to work for such a renowned company and creating their widely-recognised logo in a 3D model form was a fantastic project.

We managed to keep to the client’s tight design brief, the budget and their exact specifications which all came down to quality project management and a dedicated, motivated team – just a few things that we pride ourselves on here at Spur Creative.