Bespoke lighting specialists Dernier & Hamlyn used archive photography taken in the building before WWII to recreate beautiful George IV chandeliers for Raffles London at The OWO’s grand Haldane suite for The Office of Thierry Despont.
Named after politician, Secretary of State for War and co-founder of the London School of Economics, Sir Richard Haldane, The Haldane Suite was formerly the office of Winston Churchill, John Profumo and Sir Richard Haldane.
It is a 250sqm, two-bedroom exceptional space that features rich wood panelling, grand fireplaces, floor-to-ceiling windows offering prime views over Whitehall and Horse Guards and two stunning brass chandeliers produced by artisans in Dernier & Hamlyn’s factory.
Utilising the company’s 135 years of producing bespoke lighting for hotels, luxury residences, heritage buildings and super yachts, Dernier & Hamlyn’s design team used the 80-year-old image to create sketches to present their ideas. Once approved these were worked up to high quality rendered images to enable the client to further appreciate the design and high-quality workmanship that Dernier & Hamlyn would deliver.
Cast in solid brass, the chandeliers are almost 2m high and 2m wide. Each has 12 intricately detailed arms and 24 candle-lights. A solid brass decorative urn forms the centre piece of this work of lighting art adorned with acanthus leaf finials to echo the heritage features on the ceiling of this grand room and ensure period appropriateness.
Dernier & Hamlyn’s team employed a combination of traditional engineering and metalworking skills alongside the latest technology to create these stunning chandeliers. This included 3D printing patterns of the decorative features for casting the brass and a variety of welding techniques to achieve the very highest quality finishes.
Due to the size of these magnificent chandeliers, Dernier & Hamlyn’s installation team had to assemble them on site as they were too large to fit through The Haldane Suite’s doors. Once assembled the team installed them to the 5m high ceiling of their forever home.
Dernier & Hamlyn Director Michael Mulhall said: “It was an honour to be involved in the transformation of the Grade-II listed Raffles London at The OWO and to help it to develop from a vitally important Government building to a fabulous destination venue in the heart of the capital.”
