From Sketch to Spectacle: How a Bespoke Installation Comes to Life

People often see one of our finished installations and wonder where it all begins. By the time our clients and their guests walk through the doors, none of that process should be visible. They simply get to experience that first moment when they walk into a space and just stop. That’s the magic.

But the story starts long before. With an idea. A sketch. And, in the case of Fantasia, some very large blocks of polystyrene waiting to become a Pegasus.

It Always Starts With an Idea

Inspiration is everywhere.

It can come from a building, a colour, a piece of fabric, something I’ve found on my travels, a garden, a painting or simply a conversation that sends my imagination somewhere completely unexpected. I’m always looking, always noticing. Something I saw years ago can suddenly find its place in a completely new idea. Then comes the sketch. I love that moment when something that has only existed in my imagination is finally put down on paper.

Pegasus began exactly this way. First the idea, then the drawing of this magnificent creature taking flight above Fantasia. From there, Team Bone could begin turning a sketch on a page into something extraordinary at full scale.

From Sketch to Bespoke Creation

From the sketch came enormous raw blocks of polystyrene to our studio. This is something people don’t always realise about Team Bone. We make things. Really make them. Pegasus was carved, sculpted, shaped and finished by hand, slowly transforming from raw material into the piece you see at Fantasia.

Everything we create is bespoke, and that craftsmanship is such an important part of what we do. Our work may be known for flowers, but our imagination has never stopped there. If something doesn’t exist and we need it for a design, we create it.

Then comes the moment when everything leaves the studio and takes its place on site. Watching Pegasus being lifted into position at Fantasia was incredible. The piece we had watched develop from a sketch, to raw material, to sculpture was suddenly taking flight above the space it had been created for. Then the flowers arrive, the details take their place and the whole world comes together.

and then, the magic…

This is the moment I never tire of. The tools disappear. The ladders come down. The final flower is placed. The candles are lit. And suddenly, it’s no longer an installation.

It’s an experience.

By the time our clients and their guests walk through the doors, they don’t need to know about the sketches, the making or the hundreds of decisions that came before. They simply get to experience that first moment when they walk into a space and just stop. That’s the magic.

It Has Never Been Just About Flowers

Flowers will always be at the heart of what I do. I adore them. I always will. But creativity, for me, has never had boundaries. Sometimes an idea takes us somewhere completely unexpected, and that’s often where the most exciting things happen.

Pegasus is the perfect example. What began as an idea on paper became something handcrafted, completely bespoke and created for one extraordinary moment. That’s what I love about what we do. If we can imagine it, we can create it.

And I’m always wondering what we might dream up next…

Amie x