1001 Spheres was made by Consolidated Engineering Company (CECO), a specialised engineering company with experience in producing large-scale, outdoor artworks. CECO’s Managing Director Ian McDonald, worked closely with artist Chiara Corbelletto, bringing his open-mindedness and engineering expertise, to create bespoke solutions in resolving the aesthetical and structural elements. CECO’s master fabricator, Ken Williams, then realised the sculpture with great care and total precision. 

A particularly challenging aspect was the production of the double hemisphere created by combining hundreds of stainless-steel wire strands.  Each strand was hand-formed on a jig to produce identical profiles, then assembled with half the wire strands running clockwise, and half anticlockwise. In this way they formed 22,000 intersections with only 10% needing to be welded to create structural integrity.

Held within the double layer of the wire hemisphere is a vibrant corona of stainless-steel spheres in a mix of mirror finish, magenta, vermillion and orange. The number of spheres forming the corona is actually 1300, rather than being an exact count, the title 1001 Spheres suggests an infinite or uncountable number. 

Other components of the sculpture are: a polished 2.5 metre diameter stainless-steel dome, a smaller stainless-steel polished dome at the centre of the double hemisphere, and a large red sphere at the base. These three components were produced by hydroforming, a proprietary technique developed by CECO.

 A number of companies contributed to the production and installation of 1001 Spheres. The structural elements were designed by Structure Design, modelled by Engineering Design Services (EDS) and produced by CECO. Lastly, the precast plinth, transport and installation were completed by Rich Rigging’s art division, specialised in public art and large-scale sculpture transport and installation.