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Aden Hynes Sculpture Studios is a 3D commercial art company based in Basildon, Essex, United Kingdom. The business was set up to create commercial sculpture for the theatre, television, film and exhibitions industries, though the work is not solely limited to these areas. The variety of work the studio has produced also includes museum pieces, public art sculpture, garden or home art, corporate company sculpture, interactive or unusual 3D advertising, school or college installations, and collaborative work with other artists.

The studio specialises in large scale polystyrene carving, mould making from glass fibre (fibreglass), silicone rubber (more old fashion materials such as plaster of Paris), clay modelling, artwork and internal metalwork installation. The company creates bespoke items from client liaison, and generally works from concept to completion.

Education and Starting Out
Aden Kevin Peter Hynes attended Fryerns Comprehensive School in his home town of Basildon, and studied art throughout his school years as a standard subject. He was encouraged to carry on this passion in further education by teachers, and studied art at Thurrock Technical college, before taking a BA Honours degree course in Fine Art Sculpture at Maidstone College of Art.

Upon graduating, Aden worked as a freelance artist for 7 years, working for various companies such as the BBC, Madame Tussauds, Spitting Image, and the English National Opera (ENO). The freelance work included anything from set design, to sculpture creation, mould making, casting, scenic decorating and structural work.

With Aden’s first son due to be born in November 1988, Aden and his wife and business partner Susan leased a unit of 1,500 square foot close to home in Hornsby Square, Laindon, Basildon on a 3 year lease. Though the business of Sculpture Studios was already established, with Aden generally working in hired spaces such as large storage warehouses, barns, and studios of old colleagues, this purchase of a permanent premises marked the first big move of the business. One of the main goals of setting up his own business in a local location was to save hours of travel each day around the country, and instead, spend more time with his new family. The crux was that work now needed to be sourced directly to Aden and the studio in order to earn a living, and so required business contacts built up from the last 7 years of freelance work.

The first week of November in 1988 involved the studio unit being set up. Tools purchased, work benches created, and telephone lines installed, the studio was complete as Aden’s son Kevin was born on November 11th.

Early Studio Days
The studio’s first project in the new space was commissioned by Spitting Image whom Aden had previously worked for. A polystyrene tree was designed for a comedian to crash into.

One of the largest projects to be commissioned to the studio in the opening few years of business was creating theming for the Nottingham branch of Smilin’ Sam’s nightclub. This involved creating approximately 300 scenically decorated western themed wall panels from polystyrene and plaster, installed above head height. This project lead onto more scenery being commissioned for another two venues of the same name.

Recognisable Brands
The studio has created sculpture for both national and international companies. Some of the largest brand names include Disney, the BBC, Warner Bros, 20th Century Fox, Pokemon, Ford, Nike, Adidas, Sony, Lego, Madame Tussauds, Mercedes Benz and BT.

Television
Sculpture Studios has produced items of large scale award replicas for television events such as the Royal Television Society Awards, and the British Acting for Film and Television Awards (BAFTA), the latter of which sculptures have routinely been reused each year in a new style or setup. Previous work includes an earlier model of the Brit Awards trophy.

An episode of Fake or Fortune (a BBC One television show focusing on works of genuine works of art and forgery) featured Aden in Sculpture Studios discussing the process behind a Alberto Giacometti sculpture creation called Gazing Head, and a plaster of paris mould making technique that was most likely used to create it. After originally airing in September of 2018, the episode was repeated 11 months later in August 2019, confirming that the plaster sculpture had indeed been confirmed as being a genuine work of Giacometti, and had sold in February 2019 for over £500,000.

Music
The Pink Floyd: The Division Bell album cover featured two versions of the Division Bell heads designed by Storm Thorgerson. Sculpture Studios produced two seven and a half metre tall versions of the stone heads, originally carved from polystyrene, and finished in glass fibre and artworked. Images of the stone heads were later featured in the Pink Floyd: Their Mortal Remains exhibit a the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) in London from the 13th May to 15th October 2017.

A scaled down version of the Pink Floyd Division Bell airship was also created by the studio from polystyrene and glass fibre in 2017 for the same exhibit. To be hung from the ceiling, it represented the vehicle that was once owned by the band, the original having now been destroyed and sold off piece by piece to the public.

Sculpture Studios has created numerous items for the band Iron Maiden, notably for their world band tours. These sculptures usually revolve around the band’s Eddie (mascot) (also known as Eddie the Head), depicting the character incorporating various themes or genres specific to the band’s current tour. These include an Egyptian Pharaoh, a crystal ball gazing Eddie, and an Eddie figure holding binoculars to raise from the top opening of a tank. The majority of these sculpture featured movement at a pinnacle moment of the show. Other sculptures for the band include fibreglass ice sculptures, a guitar prop for Eddie, and more recently stone gargoyles for the Band’s 2018 Legacy of the Beast Tour.

An ice stage was created for a television advertisement with the band Status Quo. The set, carved from polystyrene with a plaster render and artwork, was used for a single day shoot for an Iceland (supermarket) advert featuring the band.

A polystyrene phrenology head was created as part of a collection of Storm Thorgerson artwork called Tenology for the band 10cc, published by Hypegallery in 2012.

Film
A large red escape space pod was created by Sculpture Studios for the 2005 movie The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy starring Martin Freeman. The pod has since been moved to an area of Universal Studios Hollywood lot tour, alongside other notable space vehicles such as the Flight of the Navigator space craft, and a T-47 Airspeeder / Snowspeeder from Star Wars The Empire Strikes Back.

A 3m scaled up version of the Triwizard Tournament cup was created from glass fibre, for the premiere of Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. The cup was crane lifted onto the entrance canopy of Odeon Leicester Square for the red carpet event in 2005. It now resides in the lobby entrance to the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter / Warner Bros. Studios, Leavesden.

Other red carpet items have been created for films such as Ice Age (2002 film) and Happy Feet, along with the premiere of Walking with Dinosaurs 3D. Many of the red carpet event sculptures are left until the last minute to be commissioned, unfortunately leaving many as concepts that can’t be brought into reality.

Theatre
Sculpture Studios were approached by AKA, the marketing team behind numerous London Theatre shows, with the design concept for the Harry Potter and the Cursed Child front of house artwork at the Palace Theatre, London on Shaftsbury Avenue. The artwork depicted a child huddled up in a giant nest, which Sculpture Studios then went on to produce for the opening of the west end production. With the success of the London show, Sculpture Studios has since produced three more child figures for the front of house displays, two for New York’s Broadway theatre show, and one for the show opening in Melbourne, Australia. The original nest was crafted using woven willow branches around a steel frame, and the child originally modeled in clay, before being moulded and cast in glass fibre. (During the first night of the sculpture being in situ in London, the nest underwent an attempted theft, as someone had attempted to prize the child from its position in the nest. The sculpture held in place, but was regardless reinforced the next day in case another attempt was made in the future).

The majority of theatre props are created for groups around the UK, such as schools, colleges and performing arts groups. Many of these productions are amateur self funded theatre projects, and the props include versions of Greased Lightnin', a Ford Cortina Mk 2 for the stage show of Made in Dagenham, and smaller hand held props for dance or small theatre groups. Notable professional credits include creating a drivable black London taxi cab for the London Palladium’s Snow White Christmas Pantomime in 2018. This project was commissioned by Qdos Entertainment, who commissioned future projects, including scenery for a Peter pan pantomime at the Hippodrome in Birmingham, and more recently a giant teapot for a Beauty and the Beast pantomime.

Theme Parks
In the early days, before the Hornsby Square premises was leased for the business, Aden created iconic pieces of sculpture for the Chessington World of Adventures theme park. A large dragon was created and installed for the opening of the Dragon Falls log flume ride in 1987. This formed the opening to a tunnel by which the public entered through the dragon’s mouth. Two large Buddha faces were also created to frame the main drop of the log flume at the end of the ride, all of which can be seen better from an off ride point of view. These sculpture contributed greatly to the ride’s aesthetic, and at the time, made it one of the most notably well themed rides in the country.

Other items for Chessington were also created, such as a larger than life cowboy and horse sculpture for the centre piece of the Rodeo ride in 1996. Originally called The Juggler, a popular breakdance style thrill ride, the ride was then rethemed in the Calamity Canyon area. The ride suffered a breakdown and closed in 2004 and was removed a few years later. The cowboy sculpture that rotated continuously in the centre of the ride however, has since being moved and rethemed as a headless huntsman in the haunted area of the park known as Wild Woods (Originally called Transylvania).

Totem poles were created for Thorpe Park, predominantly for the Old Town area. Though the area’s rides and theming gradually changed over the years, before the closure of the Loggers Leap log flume in 2015, one of the remaining totem poles could be seen as part of the ride’s scenery.

American football players were created from glass fibre to once adorn the bumper cars at the Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

Over 30 character sculptures from the children's Television Show Peppa Pig were created for an extension of the Peppa Pig World in Paultons Park, Southampton in 2018. A year later, for the Halloween season of 2019, a giant pumpkin and giant spider were created as part of a new theming installation.

Museums & Memorials
A large bronze sculpture in the form of the RMS Titanic as an Airfix style model kit was created for the Titanic Quarter in Belfast Northern Ireland, the city of which created the original Titanic in it's docks.

Sculpture Studios have created various aircraft models for the 42 Squadron Cadet Air Training Corps. Created as part of a charity art trail, scale representation models of Supermarine Spitfires, Panavia Tornado fighters, Lockheed Martin F-35 Lightning II jets and Handley Page Victor Bombers were created from glass fibre, and sponsored and artworked by local organisations and schools, to be set up around the town of King's Lynn.

In a similar style to the above project, fibreglass models of a steam locomotive were created for an art trail around the town of Tiverton, Devon. These were commissioned by the Tiverton Museum, and created in the style of The Tivvy Bumper steam engine.

Public Art Trails
One of the most recurring forms of sculpture commissions for the studio comes in the style of public art trails. This usually involves being approached or creating an initial design with a themed piece of sculpture, relevant to the charity, organization, location or cause. As well as the Tiverton and King's Lynn / Norfolk Heritage art trails mentioned above, the studio created 18 Snoopy characters sleeping on his hut, from the popular children's television show Charlie Brown. These were decorated by sponsoring celebrities, and moved to various locations around London, before being sold at auction to raise funds for charity. In a similar fashion, giant hearts have been created for the St Catherine's Hospice charity foundation, and giant seahorses for the town of Ipswich.

Unusual Advertising
Before the days of the internet, the only way for the studio to attain business was through leaflet delivering, cold calls, word of mouth, and previous contacts from Aden’s career. With the business being a 3D commercial sculpture company, Aden took it upon himself to create a piece of advertising that he could use wherever he went. He adapted a [Toyota Hilux] to accommodate a large monster seemingly bursting through the roof of the rear cabin. Christened “Monty”, the sculpture features flashing lights to appear as a cybernetic implant of the side of his head, with a radio loudspeaker device also installed, and radio voice control from inside the driver’s cab. This allowed for a very fast awareness of the business in Aden’s local town, and meant traveling to other cities soon proved as a useful advertising strategy.

Website and Online Media Content
The majority of the work Sculpture Studios is commissioned for is due to the company’s online presence. The website of www.SculptureStudios.co.uk, which has remained relatively unchanged in design since its creation in 2002, displays an online portfolio of the company’s collective works, with images and a brief description about the individual project. The website also includes basic information such as telephone and email contact details, an address with an integrated link to [Google Maps], information about the latest published project the studio has produced, and background information on Aden Hynes himself.

The portfolio section of the website breaks the projects up into numerous categories: Film & Television, Specialist Glass Fibre, Poly & Fibreglass Theming, Exhibition Sculpture, Art & public Sculpture, Theatre and Props, Unusual Advertising, Museum, Corporate Company, School & College Work and a selection of moulds the studios regularly keep in stock for immediate casting. Extended sections include more about Aden’s personal work, including Art Deco Figures, Textural Art, Life and body casting, and an introduction to the company.

Sister websites for Polystyrene Sculpture and Fibreglass Mouldings were created under the same format as the main site, to focus on more deliberate searches of these specific areas and mediums. Both domain names, however, lead back to the main page, as they are an integrated part of the same website.

The brief descriptions of each project are countered by a much more extensive media tool for the website. With the business being very visual based, a YouTube channel was created in June 2009. The channel was originally created to show a little of the behind the scenes footage of projects being put together, but has developed into one of the main tools for advertising the company’s line of work. Every video links back to the main site, and each new upload is also published to the studio's [Facebook] and [Twitter] social media accounts. In the 10 years the YouTube channel has been running, it has accumulated a collective total of 3 million views, and over 22 thousand subscribers, with the channel boasting 300 videos of individual projects.

The videos are all recorded, edited and uploaded in house, so that the studio has control over the content, and so that no outsourcing needs to be done in order for the video to be created. The studio claims that the majority of new views are there for the work that the studio produces, and the returning visitors to the channel are coming back for the personality.

Family & Business
The studio has always operated with Aden creating the physical work, and his wife Susan managing the accounts side of the business. The number of staff physically working in the studio ranges from year to year and project to project, initially starting with Aden working on his own, to hiring external staff depending on what work came in. The amount of workers depended on the timescale of the job, and the expertise needed for each project, but the work force was usually kept down to a minimum, both to be more cost effective for a small business, as well as the fact Aden prefers to do the physical work himself, and that hiring more people would mean he would be a manager first, and a sculptor second. Over time, the reliability and personalities of various members of staff created a semi permanent position for individual freelance workers, either staying on for weeks or months on end, or returning for various projects months or years later. Nowadays, the workforce is a steady consistency of between 3 and 6 members, made up predominantly of Aden's family. His wife, Sue, still manages accounts, whilst the majority of his four sons make up the rest of the work force at any one time. Now all over the age of 18, the sons contribute towards the studio work in their own way, with freedom of freelance work and being a family business allowing for other work to be pursued either simultaneously, or in place of studio work for various perdiods of time. The close family work ethic also makes for a positive working environment. The family connection is also what returning YouTube subscribers claim to enjoy seeing in each project video also.

Sometimes the studio only contains Aden himself, usually working late into the night or of a weekend to get something ready for the day or week ahead when the rest of the workforce arrives, much like when he first started out.

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