At Falconer Art Studios, we create bespoke sculptural memorials in bronze, working with families, organisations and communities to find a form that feels personal to the individual, place or story being remembered.

Our memorial work ranges from traditional bronze plaques and portrait sculpture to the casting of treasured personal objects — transforming something familiar into a permanent piece of bronze.

Casting Memories in Bronze

Objects have an extraordinary ability to hold memories.

A favourite pair of shoes. A well-used tool. A child's toy. A piece of sporting equipment. An object associated with a profession, passion or daily ritual.

Rather than creating an entirely new symbol to represent a person, we can sometimes use the object itself.

Depending on its material and construction, an original object can be moulded or recreated before being cast in bronze. Every crease, worn edge, scratch and imperfection can become part of the finished sculpture.

The result is something immediately recognisable and deeply personal — an everyday object transformed into a permanent record of a life.

Portrait & Sculptural Memorials

For some commissions, figurative sculpture offers the most appropriate way to remember an individual.

We can create portrait busts, figures or more symbolic sculptural works using photographs, archival imagery and stories supplied by family, friends or colleagues.

A memorial sculpture does not always need to be a literal portrait. An animal, plant, object or abstract form can sometimes say far more about a person than a conventional likeness.

Our role is to listen first, and then find the sculptural language that best tells that particular story.

Bronze Memorial Plaques

We also design and manufacture bespoke bronze plaques for private, architectural and public settings.

Plaques can be simple and understated, carrying a name, dates and inscription, or developed as more sculptural pieces incorporating imagery, relief work, handwriting, logos or other personal details.

They can be designed for walls, buildings, gardens, memorial sites, benches, plinths and public spaces, with the scale, typography, fixing method and patina considered as part of the overall design.

Where appropriate, a plaque can also be integrated into a larger sculptural memorial rather than existing as a separate element.

Made to Belong to a Place

The setting is an important part of any memorial.

A piece intended for a family garden requires a different approach from one designed for a school, business, church, estate or public landscape.

We consider how the memorial will be encountered, the architecture or landscape around it, and how materials will change with time. Bronze is particularly suited to this purpose: durable enough for permanent outdoor installation, yet capable of developing a beautiful surface and patina as it ages.

Stone, timber, steel and other materials can also be incorporated where they help connect the memorial to its surroundings.

A Collaborative Process

Memorial commissions are inherently personal, and we approach them as a collaborative process.

You do not need to arrive with a finished idea. A photograph, an object, a story or even a collection of memories can be enough to begin.

From there, we explore possibilities through conversation, sketches and visualisations before developing the chosen idea in three dimensions. Once approved, the work is moulded, cast and hand finished at The Falconer Foundry.

Creating Something That Endures

The most meaningful memorials do more than record a name and a date. They give us something tangible through which to remember.

That might be a bronze portrait, a carefully designed plaque or something as simple as an object once held in someone's hands.

By casting it in bronze, we preserve not only its form, but the story attached to it.

Considering a memorial commission?
Falconer Art Studios can help develop a personal memorial from an existing idea, photograph, treasured object or simply a story you would like to preserve.