New sculpture marks 150 years

A specially commissioned sculpture to celebrate the 150^th anniversary of Morris & Company has been unveiled at its Shrewsbury headquarters office on Welsh Bridge.

The brass sphere, created by Shropshire-based sculptor Nik Burns, took inspiration from key people and milestones in the company’s history and these feature as engravings around the circumference of the globe.

The impressive piece is set on an oak plinth handcrafted by Morris Joinery and has taken pride of place in the reception of the Welsh Bridge building.

Sculptor Nik Burns said: “I am delighted with the finished piece. It has been a fun and testing journey for me and wonderful to have something unique and bespoke of this scale to get my teeth into. I am very proud to have created the piece for such a well-established company.”

A unique 65cm brass sphere was handspun and it took three weeks for Nik to prepare and polish its surface to the exacting standards required for the etching. Twenty company images, including photographs from the Morris Archives, took over 80 hours to acid etch on to the sphere.

Robin Morris, Chairman of Morris & Co, said: “It is a beautiful piece providing a creative and lasting commemoration of our 150^th anniversary. Our business has remained close to its Shropshire roots so I’m pleased we could commission a local artist to produce the sculpture and also use the skills of our own Morris Joinery team.

“There has been such a positive reaction to it. I’m sure our founder, my great-great-grandfather would approve.”

The Morris story began in 1869 when James Kent Morris opened a small grocery store selling seeds, hops and candles across the Welsh Bridge at No 7 Frankwell.

Today Morris & Co employs 720 people - most of them from Shropshire - in its commercial and residential property division, care homes and international site machinery business. A series of special events are planned throughout 2019 to celebrate the 150^th anniversary.

 Pictured: Chris, Timothy, Robin and Bill Morris with the sculpture