There are many ways to mark a landmark birthday. Have a party. Go abroad. Go skydiving.
But 130-year-old F.H. Brundle, Britain’s leading wrought iron, mesh and steel product suppliers, celebrated theirs in a way that honoured their long and storied history.
Today, the company supplies a vast array of railings, balustrades, fencing, flooring and decking products, alongside literally hundreds of varieties of metal components – and they challenged artists around the country to design a sculpture using items from their enormous range.
They were bowled over by the scale of the response – they received over a hundred entries, ranging from the highly abstract to the very traditional, by customers, sculptors and blacksmiths all around the country.
That made it an extremely difficult decision to choose a winner. But ultimately, there was a clear favourite – ‘Every horse in London’, by Yorkshire-based artist Emma Stothard.
Fashioned from wire and metal, the piece is a life-size, free-standing sculpture of a horse being shod by a farrier. In the early days of F.H. Brundle, making horseshoes was a critical part of the business – and at one stage, it was even said that every horse in the capital sported F.H. Brundle horseshoes.
After making an epic 150-mile journey on the back of one of the company’s flatbed trucks, the piece now welcomes visitors to its Burton-on-Trent distribution centre.
Emma also kindly gifted Director Michael Brundle with her original prototype, which now lives in his office.
“We were totally overwhelmed by the passion and the creativity demonstrated by the dozens of entries we received, but the minute I saw Emma’s, I knew this was the one,” said Michael.
“It’s not just a wonderful symbol of our history, and a hugely impressive way of greeting people who visit us in Burton-on-Trent. It will also serve as a memorial to my father, Richard Brundle.
“My dad wasn’t much more than a boy when he joined the family business in 1956 – but over the decades that followed, he played an integral part in steering F.H. Brundle through challenging times and reinventing it for the modern era. I’m sure he would’ve loved the sculpture too.”
At F.H. Brundle, we’ve been serving the trade for 130 years – if you’d like to know more about any of our thousands of other products, don’t hesitate to get in touch.
Call 01708398048, visit www.fhbrundle.co.uk or email sales@brundle.com today!
