Leeds City Museum received £19.5 million in funding from the Heritage Lottery Fund in 2004 which enabled the redevelopment of the Leeds Mechanics’ Institute for the new Museum and its seven galleries. The Museum, which opened in 2008, included 108 display cases and several open display arrangements.

This large project was scheduled over 5 months and our mount designers and makers worked closely with the Museum’s display teams. Visually interesting and dramatic layouts were achieved by using creative mount making to enhance the display case contents. The design of the mounts and the use of materials were sympathetic to the artefacts and the surrounding displays and were conservation approved. The displays included large and complex artefacts and a great deal of problem solving was required.

Plowden & Smith were responsible for:

• Designing the arrangement of object displays in cases and on open display.
• Producing detailed drawings indicating the proposed layout for approval.
• Assessing individual objects to determine the best method of support and mounting.
• Designing and manufacturing bespoke mounts for individual artefacts.
• Installation of objects in cases and on open display.