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Originally from Canada,
Stuart began working with
Fibreglass at a young age
when he was with his fathers
company. They started out
in London, producing cold
water systems for the local
council. After moving to
Newhaven, they began to make
banking furniture, signs and
projects for McDonalds. But
when the company was
sold, Stuart took the chance
to set up on his own,
establishing Replica Glass
Fibres. As he explains he
wanted to go off and create
his own work, as he wanted
to do architectural work and
experiment with new ideas,
rather than be on a high
manufacturing detail all
the time.
Replica Glass Fibre creates
a vast and various array of
work. Some projects will
literally take years, like
the Spa Hotel in Tunbridge
Wells, where Stuart has
spent the last six years,
recreating the original
features, but all in
fibreglass, including
intricate ceiling roses,
shower stalls and roofs.
While big clients have
included Aston Martin
(Stuart makes head rests for
the cars and is in the
process of designing a
leather seat crafted from a
replica back end of one of
the cars, Euro Disney (bark
signs) and the British Heart
Foundation, Stuart also
accepts work from private
clients.
A standout private design is
a claw-footed freestanding
bath made of rose pink resin
with real rose petals
trapped beneath the
surface. It is sensuous and
beautiful, but according to
Stuart was tricky beyond
belief to design. The
original design would not
function. There was no way
it would work. They had an
idea of how they wanted it
but it was impossible.
After some technical
wizadry, he cracked the
design, and created a range
of petal bowls to match.
For all his newfangled
materials Stuart is
something of an old style
crafts man, and one gets the
sense that he is happiest
when he is experimenting.
When asked what his
favourite design is, he
looks a bit startled.
Crikey. It is when someone
comes in and states it can
not be done, that Stuart
thinks there is a way! For
example there was no known
way to put ultra violet
pigments in resin. Stuart
kept blending and has now
produced an ultraviolet that
you can put into a cast
resin and when under
ultraviolet light it will be
highighted. I experiment
and it goes on the shelf.
Then I move onto something
else, and it is not unless
someone comes in asking me,
Can you do...? that I
remember that I have done it
and it is already produced.
Although Stuart has art
school background, he
clearly has an exceptional
eye. My personal favourite
design was a range of
sixties chairs, with clean
lines and available in an
eyewatering array of Pop Art
colours, including a
shocking barbie pink. The
chair is a replica of an
original, but Stuart created
a matching table. Though he
is loathe to describe
himself as an artist, his
description of the process
of making chair and table
work together reveals a
subtle sensitivity to
balance and line.
Students from local art and
design courses regularly
come in to get a taste of a
process that is probably
unequalled nationally.
There is no university or
college that teaches these
processes of fibreglass
manipulation. The
establishment normally use
the old plaster mould to
teach. Two students came in
recently and learnt more in
two days than in their whole
time at college, they went
away quite pleased.
Quite pleased is a bit of an
understatement, bearing in
mind that one student is now
showing at the Ideal Home
Exhibition, while another is
in the process of pitching
an idea to Big Brother. If
successful, he has already
asked Stuart to make up the
design.
It is variety like this that
Stuart thrives on, as well
as the day to day challenges
of making a single material
look exactly like something
else. The ability of
fibreglass to disguise
itself as almost anything
cannot be understated. But
Stuart is as much art as
technical wizadry and even
if you do not have a mile of
period railing trim that
needs replacing, his designs
are stylish and distinctive
enough to enhance the most
modest of homes.
By Olivia Laing
Portrait Ian williams |
