Journal
In a series of redundant barns that once housed the Wilton House estate’s Victorian sawmill, sits Coade’s design studio; makers & restorers of sculpture and garden ornament. An appropriate location for a studio specialising in mainly 18th century classical revival style sculpture.
HISTORIC SETTING
Wilton House, near Salisbury, Wiltshire has been the country seat of the Earls of Pembroke for over 400 years.
This Grade I listed home has been remodelled several times including in 1801 by James Wyatt, a rival of Robert Adam in the neoclassical and neo-Gothic styles.
One huge improvement created by Wyatt is the cloisters, a two-storied gallery which was built around all four sides of the inner courtyard, providing the house a magnificent gallery to display the Pembroke collection of classical sculpture.
Eleanor Coade was born in Exeter in June 1733, the daughter of a wool merchant. In the mid-1760s, after the family had moved to London, she set up in business in the City, selling linen.
RESTORATION & CONSERVATION
Having studied restoration and conservation alongside stone carving and sculpture; Stephen Pettifer left art college and dabbled in ceramics.
It was during his time working in conservation for the National Trust that he came across a pair of Egyptian caryatids at Buscot Park – a Grade II* listed neoclassical house that Guild Anderson were also commissioned to work on.
He was tasked with restoring them, but no one understood how best to conserve them. They were made from Coade, an artificial stone that was one of the most widely used materials of the 18th century.
Originally invented by Eleanor Coade; a highly successful Georgian craftswoman and businesswoman who ran her own business making beautiful architectural and garden ornaments from her own brand of artificial stone.
While it is generally considered that Coade stone is incredibly resistant to the elements, with some examples surviving for 150 years without showing any apparent wear and tear; other examples have shown poor resistance to weathering due to a bad firing in the kiln where the material was not brought up to a sufficient temperature.
After her father’s death in 1769, she bought the premises of an ailing business run by Daniel Pincot at Narrow Wall, Lambeth, which was making a type of artificial stone. Here she began to experiment with her own formula.
MAKER & CONSERVER
Steve was inspired to research Coade further. He describes how he quickly discovered the ingredients needed to re-create Coade stone, but it has taken decades to perfect – which quantities of each substance to use and how to dry each piece and fire them in the kiln. Each unique piece produced requires precision, and years later he is still learning about this incredibly complex process with many variants affecting each piece.
Setting up his studio in London in 1996 Steve began restoring and creating sculptures exclusively using Coade stone. He spent years restoring 18th century sculptures and amusingly recalls that a lot of the initial commissions involved body parts – fingers, toes, noses…!
Despite his passion for designing and making sculpture Steve describes how his role has evolved from maker and conserver to management and client facing. His team collaborates daily, bringing their combined knowledge of design, conservation, process, and production together for each unique commission. There are so few people that work in sculpture on such a large scale, and as the team has expanded so has their ability to work in different mediums.
Coade stone was exceptionally resistant to weathering and erosion. Its versatility made it immensely popular for a great variety of sculptures, large and small – monuments, statues, garden ornaments and furniture, and architectural details.
EXPERT ARTISTS
Today Coade has developed from a mainly 18th century classical revival style to the multi-faceted sculpture workshop.
The team of expert artists produce sculptures in diverse styles, be it classical or contemporary, utilising an array of materials such as Coade stone, ceramic, lead, bronze, plaster, and stone. They have created bespoke sculpture in a multitude of styles for private clients and large institutions including the Royal Palaces and The King.
While each year the split between restoration work and contemporary commissions varies enormously, as a studio they are working more internationally, especially in USA or for American clients living overseas. The work includes both internal detailing such as for fireplaces or mouldings, as well as architectural details such as vases, urns or finials for parapets.
From her factory in Lambeth, Eleanor was soon dispatching a huge number of Coade stone sculptures and architectural elements across Georgian Britain and beyond. Many of them were created by the brilliant sculptor John Bacon, the factory’s chief designer.
CONTEMPORARY PIECES
Also, working closely with Will Fisher, the creator of Jamb; they produce a series of sculptures, decorative objects, urns, and reliefs.
Due to the bespoke way in which the studio works they can in theory offer almost any form of sculpture from small personal portraits in relief form, busts, or plaques through to enormous “Heroic Scale” pieces such as “Neptune Calming the Waves” for Malverleys Garden, Newbury; a new garden statue made in Coade loosely based on the a piece found in the Louvre.
Coade stone was used by every leading architect and designer of the day, including Robert Adam, John Nash and John Soane. Most of the pieces made from Coade stone were in the neoclassical style.
MULTI-FACETED SCULPTURE WORKSHOP
Stepping inside Coade’s studio on a bright, cold early Spring morning; you can’t help but be transported to another era – the Renaissance studio of Michaelangelo!
The team are surrounded by easels, clay, plaster and kilns discreetly busy; sculpting, creating, forming new and original pieces for royalty and discerning clients.
From restoring some of the most well known original pieces such as Nelson’s column, and The South Bank Lion on Westminster Bridge, to designing contemporary more personal commissions; this is a traditional sculpture workshop, quietly and successfully restoring some of the countries most iconic sculptures, whilst creating new works that will be admired for centuries to come.
