‘BE, Well’ at Clerkenwell Design Week

Joseph Ash Galvanizing to take part in Clerkenwell Design Week

Clerkenwell is an area of London famed for its high concentration of design houses, architecture practices and creative businesses, making it one of the most important design hubs in the world. It’s also an area framed by a thirst for history from family research enthusiasts and sociologists, and visitors to ancient buildings and architecture such as St. John’s Gate, dating back to 1504. To celebrate this rich and diverse community, Clerkenwell Design Week was created to showcase leading UK and international brands and companies in a series of showroom events, exhibitions and special indoor and outdoor installations that take place across the area. The event runs every year in May, and this year, Joseph Ash Galvanizing is proud and excited to be taking part.

Alongside partners Haines Watts, WR-AP Architecture, John Cullen Lighting, Lionweld Kennedy and Berry Systems, Joseph Ash Galvanizing is involved in a project to construct a stunning pavilion shaped installation in the middle of St. John’s Square that visitors to Clerkenwell Design Week can see, touch, walk through and interact with.

The 9 x 3 x 4m installation made from galvanised steel is called ‘BE, Well’ and is described by WR-AP Architecture as follows:

“BE, Well will take you on an evocative journey where you will experience how architecture, light and materials have an effect on the human mind. Envisaged as a platform to showcase the inherent performance and aesthetic qualities of galvanised steel via an experimental composition of utilitarian building products and curated architecture, you will firstly interact with a fine filigree of elements that will shine and refract with the everchanging sunlight. You will progress to a more enclosed construction where you will be able to connect and touch the materials as you move through the installation. The pavilion concludes with a more formal portico inspired by the adjacent St. Johns Gate housing a new Clerkenwell ‘Well’, where we invite you to galvanise and share your thoughts about the show, issues in the design and architectural sector and leave these in our wishing well for the future.”

The partnership

Haines Watts London, a top UK accounting firm, is sponsoring the project. With decades long experience of working with some of the UK’s most prestigious architecture firms, they wanted to share their support for the architecture industry by sponsoring an up-and-coming young architecture practice to design the installation.

They chose WR-AP Architecture as the designers, a young London-based practice set up by Sean Weston and Max Rengifo in 2018, which specialises in creating beautiful buildings with delightful, memorable and enjoyable experiences for their clients and the environment.

As the installation will be made from steel, Joseph Ash Galvanizing will be protecting the steel using a batch hot dip galvanizing process from one of our plants.

Joseph Ash Galvanizing is part of Hill & Smith Holdings PLC. Two other companies within the Hill & Smith group – Berry Systems and Lionweld Kennedy – also make up the partnership. Berry Systems will be fabricating the steel, and Lionweld Kennedy will be fabricating the mesh grating, which is part of WR-AP’s stunning design.

The final company in the collaboration is John Cullen Lighting, the award-winning lighting specialist, who will be enhancing the installation with a variety of lighting techniques.

Alex Shall from Haines Watts said: “We’re extremely excited to be part of Clerkenwell Design Week as we like to share our support for the architectural sector. We have been supporting architecture practices with their accounting, both big and small for decades and are known as industry specialists. Our core proposition is to work with individuals who are running practices and help them understand the commercial aspects of doing so. The commerciality of running an architectural practice is key to its success and the ‘Be Well’ installation is going to illustrate this.”

Mick Jackson, IT and Marketing Manager at Joseph Ash Galvanizing said: “Clerkenwell Design Week is a hugely creative and forward-looking event and we’re delighted that the aesthetic beauty and sustainable benefits of galvanised steel will be showcased in such an important way within a prominent place in Clerkenwell. We’re also pleased to be working with Haines Watts, WR-AP Architecture and John Cullen Lighting, as well as two of our sister companies Berry Systems and Lionweld Kennedy.”

Date and location

Clerkenwell Design Week (currently in its 10^th year) will run from 21-23 May 2019 throughout the wider Clerkenwell area. It will stretch from Farringdon to Barbican, taking in streets such as Clerkenwell Close, St. John’s Square, Northampton Road and Charterhouse Street (to name a few).

Entry to the various exhibitions and installations is free to the public.

In 2018 the event attracted over 34,000 visitors and 300 exhibiting brands.

(Image provided by WR-AP Architecture.)