a second stone frieze for Julian Opie
limestone and bronze frieze installed in Bermuda
When the Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club in Bermuda commissioned Julian Opie to design a 13m long installation for its marina, Opie designed a frieze featuring his signature stylised figures in patinated bronze inlaid into Antalya Cream limestone. He turned to stoneCIRCLE to create the artwork for him as the firm had previously worked with him on his installation at the CitizenM, Tower of London Hotel.
Opie’s frieze in-situ at the Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club in Bermuda
The frieze mid-installation
The figures are 5mm thick and are inlaid flush with the surface of the limestone blocks. They were cut out on stoneCIRCLE’s waterjet cutter and patinated in the Basingstoke factory. The limestone was cut on the Omag machine and the bronze glued in before shipping. Each panel was bonded to lightweight honeycomb for strength and to reduce weight, notwithstanding that the biggest panels weighed 230 kg.
The finished panels were loaded into a bespoke crate and shipped by sea freight to Bermuda. Barry Woodley and Steve Vanhinsbergh then flew out to Bermuda to install them in 5 days before returning to the UK.
You can watch the installation on the time lapse video.
project details
Client: Hamilton Princess Hotel & Beach Club
Artist: Julian Opie
Production and Installation: stoneCIRCLE
Materials: Antalya Cream, Bronze