Inplas - Bespoke Proejcts
GQ 'Man of the Year' Display Wall
Inplas worked very closely with Event Set Services Ltd to create a fantastic 10mm clear Perspex display wall for the GQ man of the year ceremony, sponsored by Hugo Boss. Winners on the night included Sir Anthony Hopkins and Ed Sheeran.
The 4000mm wide x 3000mm high was filled with over 500 bottles of cologne and the rear LED projection screen added the contrast of vibrant colour to complete the look.
At Inplas we are always excited to work on projects that enable us to push the boundaries of Perspex and acrylic design and fabrication. We continually strive to offer our clients the highest quality of service, drawing on our full range of machining facilities to enable rapid turn around. Our attention to fine detail and quality has resulted in many stunning examples of acrylic fabrication. We encourage clients to visit our modern factory to see our huge portfolio of work and the variety of industry sectors we have worked for.
Mixing Desk for DJ Dimension
Inplas were commissioned to work on a dream project when asked to produce a custom designed, clear Perspex® acrylic mixing desk for world famous DJ Dimension.
The unique custom system brought together high end acrylic fabrication with state of the art electronics. The unique mixing controller had to incorporated nine ‘instruments’ within the system. Weighing in at 100Kg, it comprises a hammer-weighted keyboard, nine custom-made instruments with 162 switches and faders for full control over the live mixing and music.
Producing a clear product with optically clear perfect joints required precision fabrication from Inplas making use of CNC machining, laser cutting and engraving processes. Combining clear Perspex® acrylic sheets in 5mm, 6mm, 8mm, 15mm and 25mm thicknesses, the finished product was brought together using delicate UV bonding to create crystal clear joints.
Inplas MD Trevor Smith explains “this was a dream project for our team. Dimension had a concept of how he wanted his new show to look – including a centre piece that nobody else has ever seen. Our team of craftspeople were able to turn this vision into reality, working with the Dimension design team and sound technicians to produce a truly unique work of art sturdy enough to tour the world."
It formed the centrepiece of the DJ’s announcement of his new Dimension Live1.0 show.
Bespoke Signage
Inplas worked closely with Signcraft to create this striking 3D signage for a commercial premises in Glasgow, to assist the marketing of the recently completed refurbishment.
The signs were fabricated in clear Perspex and then expertly covered in the blue coloured vinyl graphics complete with the white lettering and logos.
"Akrilikopolis" Arch - Acrylic Design Awards 2019 Winner
Inplas fabricated two of the designs in the 2019 Acrylic Design Awards, including the first-placed ‘Akrilikopolis’ – an acrylic arch with detailed 'stone' modelling.
Model-makers Trick of the Eye Ltd were enlisted to produce the stone components, while Inplas CNC-machined the 10mm acrylic and thermoformed it to achieve the arch shape, all edges were delicately bonded and the edges perfectly polished. These acrylic sections fitted seamlessly with the stone sections, which had been hand-sculpted from high-density foam, with all pieces delicately glued together in the final arrangement with an ultra-strong epoxy resin.
"Rainbow" Glasses - Acrylic Design Awards 2019 Winner
Inplas fabricated the "Rainbow' glasses which won third place in the 2019 Acrylic Design Awards.
The glasses are constructed from 3 separate elements and are designed to be completely interchangeable using various acrylic colours, giving people the chance to experiment and play with colour to create their own versions.
The front frames are laser-engraved around the rims to give a subtle outline effect. Inplas then thermoformed the arms either side of the frames to create a fixing point for the connecting pieces. The final part was to laser cut the ear profile section of the arms.
The glasses looked fantastic in the varying tinted acrylic colours, but were also very functional and it was great to see that the ADA attendees trying them on and having fun with them.
Perspex Safe for This Morning
Inplas worked closely with Berry Place Models to create a stunning Perspex safe for a £250,000 competition on ITV's This Morning.
The safe was fabricated using 15mm and 6mm clear Perspex and sits on a 12mm clear Perspex plinth. Once the safe door is unlocked each of the shelves slide out full of the cash!
Battle of Britain Map Display Case
As part of a multimillion pound re-fit of the historic ‘Battle of Britain Bunker’ – officially called The No.11 (Fighter) Group Operations Room - Inplas were tasked with producing protective glazing for the 16sqm hand-painted plotting map of South East England and Western Europe once used to direct RAF fighter aircraft during the Battle or Britain and D-Day.
During its time in operation the bunker, located 60ft underground on the former site of RAF Uxbridge and impenetrable at that time, was visited by the King and Queen and Winston Churchill. The room is now set up exactly as it would have looked on 15th September 1940, the day on which Winston Churchill visited and witnessed the conduct of the most significant day of the Battle of Britain.
With its UV protective qualities, Inplas chose Perspex® VA as the ideal protection for the map and its inks to ensure it doesn’t degrade over time. Built using 5 sheets of 5mm thick acrylic, the protective panels were laser cut to mirror the shape of the maps and supporting table.
Trevor Smith, Managing Director of Inplas Fabrications said, “We couldn’t have been prouder to be involved in this special project. Visiting the site and working within the deep, dark rooms really brought home the fascinating history just a few miles from our factory. It has been a privilege to work with Hillingdon Council as they refurbish the site and we encourage anyone to visit this fascinating snapshot of time.”
For information about The Battle of Britain Bunker and visitor centre visit www.hillingdon.gov.uk/bunker
Edible Cocktails Display Stand
Inplas worked with Smith & Sinclair on a stunning acrylic display to showcase their range of edible cocktails at the John Lewis Oxford Street store.
12mm thick Perspex clear sheets were used to create the large cabinets, weighing over 350 kilos combined. Despite its size, delicate mitred and butt joining techniques were used to create museum quality invisible fixings. The full range of Perspex transparent colours are used to mirror the coloured packaging for each flavour in the Smith & Sinclair range.
Designer Fred Godfrey was delighted with the results: “Inplas provide one of the best services of any company I've worked with in my trade. The service was impeccable. We were provided with samples of different types of acrylic colour and finish. They went out of their way to accommodate us, and even sent a couple of their best fabricators to help on the overnight install. The product was absolutely amazing. Such high quality. I will never be using anybody else for anything acrylic related. Inplas will not let you down.”
Gin Trolley
Inplas worked with Quench Home Bars to create a stunning, luxury gin trolley. The bottle holders were fabricated in diamond-polished 10mm clear Perspex with exquisite UV-bonded joints, to compliment the high-gloss laminated birch plywood of the main body perfectly.
Light Wall
Inplas worked with Signcraft to design and install this stunning light wall in the reception area at a prestigious London office.
The large light wall in Perspex® Polar Frost acrylic creates a dramatic, contemporary reception visible from the busy street, and Perspex® Polar Frost is also used to create futuristic linear lighting strips along the ceiling and floor guiding visitors through the reception area.
Film Memorabilia Display Cases
Reliquary is a beautiful desktop collection of small pieces of props, costumes and scenery from iconic film and TV in an acrylic frame.
Inplas worked with Reliquary to design and fabricate the acrylic cases. The case/frame is assembled from laser-cut cast acrylic sheets secured with steel pins/screws, inside which are five 'capsules'. Each capsule contains a small piece of a prop, a piece of set or a piece of an iconic costume from a cult film or TV show with a laser-etched label.
Leopard Sculptures
Inplas worked with artist Arran Gregory's to create the stunning leopard sculptures for his recent solo exhibition 'HUNT' at London's iconic Truman Brewery.
Found in the Russian Far East and northern borders of China, the Amur Leopard is the world’s most endangered big cat. It is estimated that few more than 60 remain in the wild and the artist created an life-sized installation depicting a third of those remaining in the wild.
Each leopard was created from a series of bespoke laser-cut silver mirror Acrylic pieces.
For enquiries and more information on AG's work please visit www.arrangregory.com.
Art Sculpture
Inplas worked with London-based artist Frances Richardson's on her latest sculpture entitled "Loss of object and bondage to it; Fig. 2".
The sculpture is the third public commission for ‘Sculpture at Bermondsey Square’, an initiative supported by Arts Council England, The National Lottery, Ideas Tap, Bermondsey Square Community Fund and Southwark Council.
Richardson’s commission pairs concrete canvas – a flexible concrete impregnated fabric that hardens on hydration to form a thin, concrete layer – with perspex, a material that has a semblance with glass and a resonance with the architecture of the site. As with her previous work, she explores the feeling of melancholy present when a space is activated yet dormant.
15mm green glacier frost Perspex was machined, drilled and tapped in bespoke panels and then combined with the artist's painted concreate canvas drapes.
Harper Collins – Laser-Cut & Etched Feature Panels and Display Cases
Inplas was heavily involved in creating the interior of the new Harper Collins HQ on the 16th floor of the Shard in London:
A variety of striking bespoke feature panels and display cases were created in a very short timeframe as Sarah McPhee, Head of Events Communications at Harper Collins, explains:
“From the very first time Warren answered the phone and assisted me regarding a very last minute fabrication job; I have felt incredibly fortunate that I have found such an honest, hardworking and remarkable company to work with on our new office design project.
No job is too big or small (literally) and the success of the company as a whole is certainly down to not only the capable leadership of hands-on boss Trevor, but also the dedication and can-do attitude of all who work there.
Warren and Trevor were constantly coming up with new ideas and finishes that they felt would fit our brief, and when presented some very tricky design and presentation problems which required creative solutions - at no point were we made to feel that we were being difficult or that we were asking too much.
We have ended up with some amazing pieces: luminescent laser cut designs and expertly crafted cases that hold some of our companies most important and historical archival treasures.
We would highly recommend Inplas for any fabrication work – we have thoroughly enjoyed our working relationship with them, and hope that it may continue in the future.”
Cocktail Bar
Another stunning contemporary cocktail bar, featuring a 10mm crystal-encrusted black Perspex detail panel and 25mm clear Perspex shelves.
London Skyline Table Centrepieces
Inplas fabricated these striking table centrepieces for an event hosted by the Mayor of London. Iconic buildings from the London skyline were laser-cut in vibrant coloured Perspex and mounted on a white Perspex base.
Concorde Dining Table
Inplas designed and manufactured a bespoke tabletop in 20mm clear Perspex which sits over two original Concorde engine combustion chambers to create a stunning dining table. The tabletop was precision designed to locate perfectly over the raised collars to prevent movement, and all the edges were highly polished to match sheen on the hand–polished combustion chambers. A truly unique piece to take pride of place in any English garden!
Architectural Model
Inplas laser engraved the intricate road layouts in the base panels of a scale model for a proposed housing development. The client added 3D-printed houses and underlit the panels with LED lighting to complete the stunning effect.
Cocktail Bar
Quench design and manufacture luxury contemporary home bars. Inplas were commissioned to produce a bespoke acrylic panel for their new design 'Champagne & Crystals'. Made from 10mm thick gloss black acrylic, the panel would later be inset with over 200 Swarovski crystals.
Jonathan Green, Head of Design at Quench, commented, "Our bars are made to an exceptional standard. The challenge was to get each and every crystal to fit perfectly. With their expertise, depth of knowledge and attention to detail, Inplas achieved this with stunning results."
Shield Artwork
Working again with Acrylicize, Inplas created this giant 3D version of Nuffield Health's shield logo for the reception area of their UK headquarters. Over 650 pieces of clear Perspex were individually laser-cut and UV bonded to the base to create the curved front and the backplate was finished with a reverse mounted graphic to add the logo colours.
London Skyline Artwork
Inplas worked with artist Yoni Alter to create a modular sculpture of the London skyline. The Shard, The Gherkin, BT Tower, London Eye, Battersea Power Station, Tower Bridge, Big Ben, Nelson’s Column and The New Bus for London were laser cut to to scale in blue, orange, red, green and yellow Fluoro Perspex. The elements can be moved around (between and along the slots) in the clear Perspex base to create different compositions and colour combinations and when placed on a tablet, or other light source, the pieces glow through the edges and through the etchings on both faces.
Brussels Sprout Batteries
Inplas worked with Designworks to create a series of unique Brussels sprout powered cells with enough power to illuminate an 8ft Christmas tree! The internal mounting rings and uprights were laser-cut in 6mm clear cast Perspex.
The project was devised by The Big Bang Young Scientists & Engineers team to rekindle children’s interest in engineering and Brussels sprouts, and the sprout battery has been a huge success and has so far appeared on ITV’s Daybreak and Channel 4’s Sunday Brunch, not to mention extensive coverage in print and online media channels.
The Beacon School Reception
Inplas designed and fabricated a bespoke desk and pigeon hole unit for the new reception area at The Beacon School, Chesham Bois. The body of the desk was fabricated from 20mm and 10mm solid white Perspex and finished with a burgundy red feature panel, laser-cut and bonded school logo and Alupanel kicker plate. The pigeonhole unit was also created using 10mm solid white Perspex to compliment the desk and continue the clean lines of the new reception.
Biological Research Cases
Inplas were approached by CABI (Centre for Agriculture and Biosciences International) to design and fabricate a range of new cases for their biological research.
CABI use the cases to grow and test insect/pathogen cultures to combat the spread of invasive weeds which arrive on our shores (either by accident or intentionally for horticultural purposes) without any of the natural enemies that keep the plants under control in their native environment.
Perspex is the ideal fabric for the cases as it is easy to monitor everything that is happening inside, the light penetrates through to plants and cultures, and it is robst and easy to clean. The cases often sit in a tray of water and directly under UV lights, resulting in a humid and warm environment, so Inplas found the most suitable non-toxic glue for these conditions (some glues contain fungicides and would be lethal to the pathogens).
CABI were delighted with the design process and finished cases:
"Inplas used their knowledge to redesign aspects of the old cages with improvements such as replacing the metal hinges with plastic ones and using a different locking mechanism, and came up with solutions for slotting the extender and cage units together. We received our prototypes and were able to set them up to see how they worked in-situ; a valuable exercise. Inplas were happy to accommodate some minor changes and suggest further improvements, and provided us with a final CAD drawing that we could show to our colleagues before moving forward.
The final production was swift, and our new cages have been finished to an excellent standard. Not only are they highly functional but they also look very impressive and are admired by everyone. Thanks to Inplas and the materials they have used, we can be assured that the cages will last us for many years. It’s also good to know that we can return to Inplas if we need more in the future."
Mirror Sculptures
Working alongside sculptor/illustrator Arran Gregory, the core sculpture was hand crafted by the artist at his studio and then each acrylic mirror tile laser-cut to fit within it's precise dimensions.
The mirror wolf featured in the video for "Your Drums, Your Love" by Aluna George, shown below (the wolf appears around the 1 minute mark).
Entertainment Room
Working closely with Michael Jones Architects, Inplas designed and fabricated a series of illuminated shelving units for a private client's new entertainment room.
After a detailed site visit, the 10 custom shelving units and plasma TV surround (incorporating BOSE speakers) were created using Crystal Clear Frost Perspex with back panels in Polar Frost Opal Perspex to dissipate the light and reduce hotspots from the colour-washing LED lighting. The lighting can be set to a single colour or allowed to cycle through a spectrum of colour. Custom, brushed stainless steel fixings were used to float the units off the wall.
KMPG Sculpture
Inplas worked closely with artist Claire Knapp to create a stunning contemporary sculpture to add colour and movement to the new reception area at KMPG's UK headquarters in Watford.
Discs of red (4401), blue (7703) and yellow (2202) transparent Perspex were laser cut into spirals and then individually stretched and thermoformed before being intertwined to create the sculpture. Each spiral was also laser etched with the KPMG mottos 'Global mindset', 'Value adding', 'Passionate' and 'Forward thinking' and the spirals float on a system of custom designed clear acryic pedestals.
Blackpool Illuminations
Inplas used the new Spectrum LED Opal Perspex combined with frosted and fluro edge colours to create patterned discs for a set of stunning fluted pylon illuminations along the promenade at the world famous Blackpool Pleasure Beach. Working again with the artist Jo Berry, Inplas laser cut the intricate layers that make up the internals of each flute. 25 discs were supplied in total and the pylons were finished with internal lighting to project details from the laser cut drawings onto the glossy white flutes.
Appletiser Display Stand
Working closely with B2B exhibitons, Inplas recently completed a striking new marketing display stand for Appletiser. The stand was fabricated using laser cut mirror Acrylic logo signage complete with white 069 Perspex table tops and stunning coloured plinths which were internally illuminated with fibre optic lighting. Pictured here at the Westfield Shopping Centre, the stand will be travelling the length and breadth of the country as part of Appletiser's brand promotion.
Rugby Cup Finals Plinth
Inplas designed and fabricated a unique modular display plinth for the ERC (European Club Rugby). The body was thermoformed in 15mm frost Perspex with a 50mm solid clear acrylic machined and threaded central post to support the weight of the cup.
The plinth has a unique modular design with interchangeable coloured inserts which allow the branding to be matched to the competition being played. On the Friday night a 743 blue insert with Amlin Challenge Cup graphics was used to display the cup at the final between Toulon and Biarritz Olympique at the Stoop. The following day the plinth was easily transported to Twickenham and a 650 green insert with Heineken Cup graphics was used at the final between Leinster and Ulster.
