The Challenge

Maybrey Precision Castings was commissioned by Millimetre Ltd to manufacture a series of bespoke aluminium castings for an extraordinary installation forming part of the flagship window displays of Christian Dior Couture in New York and Beverly Hills.

The project required cast components that would ultimately be fabricated by Millimetre Ltd into elegant, bow-inspired lamp post sculptures, creating dramatic centrepieces for two of Dior's most prestigious retail locations.

The flowing design presented a significant casting challenge. Multiple sweeping curves created conflicting draft angles that demanded careful consideration during the tooling and moulding process. In addition, the castings needed to provide the high-quality foundation required for the exceptional finishing standards expected of a luxury retail installation.

Our Solution

Working closely with Millimetre Ltd, our foundry team reviewed the design to ensure the individual castings could be manufactured successfully while preserving the designer's vision.

Maybrey's and Millimetre's experienced engineers developed practical solutions to overcome the conflicting draft angles, carefully considering pattern design, mould orientation and casting methodology to produce sound, repeatable castings ready for fabrication.

Throughout manufacture, particular attention was given to casting quality, dimensional accuracy and consistency, ensuring every component provided the ideal starting point for Millimetre Ltd's fabrication, welding and finishing processes.

Collaboration and Delivery

Projects of this calibre rely on close collaboration between specialist manufacturers.

Maybrey Precision Castings worked alongside Millimetre Ltd, supplying the precision aluminium castings that formed the foundation of the finished installations. Millimetre Ltd expertly fabricated the individual castings into the completed bow structures through specialist welding, before carrying out the detailed finishing and painting that brought the designer's vision to life.

This collaborative approach ensured every element of the project met the exceptionally high standards expected for a flagship luxury retail installation.

The Result

Our castings formed part of the Christian Dior Couture flagship window displays in New York and Beverly Hills, contributing to striking sculptural installations viewed by thousands of visitors every day.

The project demonstrates how high-quality castings, combined with expert fabrication and finishing, can transform a creative concept into an iconic installation. The elegant flowing forms and flawless presentation showcased the craftsmanship and engineering expertise delivered by every organisation involved.

Being selected by Millimetre Ltd to contribute to such a prestigious international project reflects the confidence specialist fabricators place in Maybrey Precision Castings' technical capability, quality and reliability.

From heritage landmarks and public spaces to luxury retail installations, Maybrey Precision Castings is trusted by specialist fabricators, engineers and designers to deliver complex castings where quality, precision and craftsmanship are essential.

Client

Millimetre & Christian Dior Couture

Artist

Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark

Subject

London's first public statue of a postpartum woman

Subsequent locations

Portman Square, London; Art Basel Miami

Sector

Art Foundry Castings

Services

Sand Castings

Background

In a country where fewer than 4% of public statues depict women, and where the postpartum body has rarely if ever been represented in public art, Mother Vérité is a significant work. Created by British digital sculptor Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark and commissioned by Frida, the maternal care brand, it stands seven feet tall in silicon bronze, the material of monuments and permanence, depicting a woman cradling her newborn in the raw physical reality of the hours and days after birth.

D'Clark interviewed and scanned a diverse group of 40 postpartum women to create the sculpture, capturing the physical and emotional truths of early motherhood with a fidelity that no previous public artwork had attempted. The result is a figure with visible stretch marks, engorged breasts, a linea negra, and the disposable underwear of a hospital ward: not the idealised body of classical sculpture, but the real one.

The Commission

Frida, the maternal care brand known for confronting taboos around postpartum health, commissioned artist Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark to create the first public statue of a postpartum woman. The work had to be in bronze, the material that puts figures on pedestals and places them in history, and it had to be technically beyond reproach: a sculpture of this significance needed to last.

D'Clark's process combined 3D scanning, digital sculpting, and live reference to produce a form of extraordinary surface detail. The challenge then passed to us: to realise that form in silicon bronze without losing any of the detail that gave it meaning.

The Technical Challenge

What we can note from the public record is that D'Clark's digital sculpting software struggled with some of the fine physiological detail the work demanded: the software's rendering limitations meant that certain features required manual resolution. The casting process needed to preserve everything the sculptor had fought to include.

The Result

Mother Vérité was unveiled on the steps of the Lindo Wing at St Mary's Hospital, Paddington: the spot most associated in the public mind with the polished presentation of royal births, and therefore a deliberate, pointed choice for a sculpture about the reality of postpartum life that rarely appears in those photographs.

From there it moved to Portman Square in central London, then to Art Basel Miami, before going on long-term loan to a major institution dedicated to women's health. A sculpture made in Kent now occupies a permanent place in the cultural conversation about how women's bodies and experiences are represented in public space.

Client

Frida (maternal care brand, founded by Chelsea Hirschhorn

Artist

Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark

Subject

London's first public statue of a postpartum woman

Subsequent locations

Portman Square, London; Art Basel Miami

Sector

Art Foundry

Services

3D Printed Moulds

Client

Equal Justice Initiative (EJI)

Fabrication partner

Millimetre, West Sussex

Sector

Art Foundry

Services

3D printed sand mould production, silicon bronze sand casting, bespoke running system design, polishing

Artist

Rayvenn Shaleigha D'Clark

Mould technology

Voxeljet AG 3D printed sand moulds