A HUGE metal sculpture weighing five tonnes is being carefully crafted by an enterprising Peterborough company.
Called the Tunstall Shard, the £50,000 work, which will measure 25 ft high by 23 ft wide, is being built of stainless steel by engineers at Midas Technologies, in Roundhouse Close, Eastern Industry.
The work of art will eventually be on show to hundreds of people each day when it takes pride of place on the former site of former pottery giant Wedgewood in Stoke on Trent.
It will stand at the gateway to a prestigious new retail development in Jasper Square, Tunstall, in Stoke.
The sculpture, which has been designed by internationally renown artist Robert Erskine, is based on a shard of pottery that was found in an underground oven when the Wedgewood site was being redeveloped.
And it shows the fingerprint that can be seen on the original shard and which is thought might date back hundreds of years.
How the sculpture will look when it is installed at the entrance to a new retail development in Stoke on Trent.
Managing director Mark Lock said: "It is brilliant for us to get a contract like this. It is worth £50,000 to us.
"It shows we are leading the field in our area of manufacturing by making something that many people might not believe was possible."
Mr Lock said the manufacturing process had involved a combination of traditional engineering techniques and modern laser skills.
He said: "One of the peculiarities of the shard was that a fingerprint could be seen on it. We have carefully been able to reproduce that fingerprint on the sculpture.
"The sculpture is 300 times larger than the shard it is based upon."
Once finished the sculpture will be taken out of the factory in two halves to be assembled.
Mr Lock said: "The roof of the factory is too low to allow it to be moved out in one piece.
"We will use a crane to assemble the structure and it will then be lifted on to a low loader and transported by road to Stoke.
He added: "I am sure it will turn many heads during its journey."
The sculpture has been commissioned by the Jasper Square developers Dransfield Properties, of Barnsley.
Dransfield Properties' Amanda Holmes said: "We have delivered works of public art on a number of our developments and we are delighted with Robert Erskine's concept of The Shard which reflects Tunstall's rich heritage.
"We are very much looking forward to seeing it in pride of place in Jasper Square later this year."
The full article contains 417 words and appears in Peterborough ET newspaper.
