"Fist Full Of Feathers" 2011. This work was commissioned by the late Lloyd Morrison for the foyer of the Infratil HRL Morrison & Co Office in Wellington. This work is made up of 870 hot pressed glass huia feathers which gives it a stately presence.

Why Huia feathers?

We were approached by Sir Lloyd Morrison of H.R.L. Morrison & Co and Infratil to create a commissioned work for his new premises in Market Lane Wellington. In close consultation with Lloyd we chose the entrance lobby as the site to hang a large sculptural feature chandelier. The lobby allowed us to utilise the full floor to ceiling length and so we created a chandelier 5.5 m in length, elegantly hanging from ceiling to floor. For the 850 plus glass feathers we choose to use the Huia feather as our reference. The Huia feather was the most suitable symbolic feather for this occasion, mainly because of its association of leadership and mana.

We designed the chandelier to be like a bunch of Huia feathers held from the quill end to be presented to Lloyd Morrison as a sign of his mana within the organisation and wider community. The work was titled “A Fist Full Of Feathers"

How was it commissioned? During a refurb or was it simply an installation?

As mentioned above it was commissioned by Sir Lloyd Morrison for Morrison and Co and Infratil. Lloyd came to us directly and discussed how the company was moving to a new building in Wellington and that he wanted a work from Crystal Chain Gang that was outstanding statement piece to be included in the new premises. We were involved at the preliminary stages of the build and were able to choose the site for our chandelier through a combination of working from the architectural drawings and site visits. Lloyd was involved at all stages.We had a series of regular meetings with him to finalise designs etc.

Technicalities of the install? Safety requirements to meet in a commercial setting?

The design and construction of the unique chandelier was a very involved and complex process. It involved consultation with engineers, architects, metal fabricators, and our design team. We were allocated an install time slot that was when the lobby area was completed and dust free. Due to the size of the work we required two scissor lifts and four personal to install frame and glass. Mounting brackets in the ceiling were installed by the building contractors and we were responsible for the rest of the install.The chandelier is comprised of over 850 individually pressed glass feathers and is hung on a customised brass frame. The total weight of the chandelier is 600kg. A major consideration for anything hung is that it has to be designed to cope with seismic events. We have designed all our work to have controlled flexibility to survive substantial seismic events. The building at the time of construction was the most seismically engineered building in Wellington. The 2013 Seddon earthquake rated at 6.5 on the richter scale was an excellent test of the building and chandelier, both came trough unscathed.

How would this work in a residential setting?

This scale of chandelier is too large for a domestic residential setting. For these settings we create much smaller intimate chandeliers , however we have installed a 3.6m length chandelier into a domestic setting. It all comes down to the site and the budget.

How long did this take to construct? How many people were involved?

The project took just over a year from design to the install. The process involved the team of five from Crystal Chain Gang , two CAD designers , metal fabricators and an electrician. The process of finalising the design took 5 months and then the frame fabrication and glass production 6 months with 1 month for transport and install. The frame was initially mocked up in timber and then water jet cut from brass. The CAD designers expertly converted our artist sketches of the frame to drawings that were then cut out of solid brass plate. All the design and metal fabrication was undertaken in Wellington region.

What is the base made of and how strong does that have to be?

The internal frame of the chandelier was cut frame solid brass sheet. The frame components were all CAD designed and individually cut out then assembled into five sections each 5.5 meters long and then these five sections were assembled to a steel ring that housed the electrics, light and suspension system. The complete chandelier weighed 600kg so the frame and suspension system had to be designed to be capable of exceeding this weight.