Nina Campbell visits Hamish Mackie's studio

Nina Campbell visits Hamish Mackie's studio February 18, 2024

One of the exciting things about being a sculptor is the unpredictability of it, you never know what is just around the corner!

I met the internationally acclaimed interior designer, Nina Campbell at Chelsea Flower Show in 2022. Nina walked past my stand with her son Max, and stopped to have a look. We got chatting about a project she was working on for a client in America.

Meeting Nina was a real highlight, and the conversations that followed led to a commission for six life size wolf sculptures, which have been cast into bronze.

After our meeting at Chelsea Flower Show, I flew to meet Nina and her client on site in America. The commission we discussed was very site-specific, so ideas had to be formulated and measurements taken before presenting the client with ideas.

This project has been an exhilarating experience. I have really enjoyed working with the client’s crack team of architects, garden landscapers and site designers. It’s been a fantastic project to be involved in.

In November last year, I invited Nina and two of her team, Olivia and Joanna, to visit my studio in Oxfordshire. We met at Lockbund Foundry, where we spent the morning giving our guests a step by step guide to the ancient craft of lost wax casting.

We showed them how a silicone rubber mould is made over the original and is held in the right shape by a rigid fibreglass outer case. Multi-section moulds fit together with millimetre precision.

They were also able to watch a bronze pouring, where molten bronze is poured into the pre-heated ceramic investment at 1200 degrees celsius.

Then we went back to my studio so I could show Nina where I sculpt, and of course to see the six finished wolves.

I am really looking forward to seeing the wolves finally installed in the American landscape very soon!

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For more information about the lost wax casting process, see Hamish’s Bronze Casting page.

To view the finished life size wolf sculptures, see Wolf Female, Wolf on a Mound, Wolf Running Legs Out, Wolf Running Legs Under, Wolf Prowling, Wolf Male Howling.

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