As part of our 50th Anniversary celebrations, we took part in this year’s Concours of Elegance at Hampton Court Palace. The Concours is more than just a parade of the finest and rarest cars in the world today, it’s celebrates the very best of automotive engineering and luxury craftsmanship in the world today, past and present. We joined legendary names like Aston Martin, Bentley, Bugatti and Ferrari, presenting our own metal artistry alongside classic Le Mans and F1 racing cars from the 1920’s onwards, the latest high tech engineering and electric supercars.
We chose this star-studded company to reveal our own blend of high tech design and traditional craftsmanship’s latest incarnation, a silver and gold cheetah that captures the spirit of elegance and speed as surely as an exotic V12 racer. Measuring just over 50cm, she’s mid-sprint, with just one paw launching her into motion on the black walnut base.
Her sculptural form blends elegant curves with powerful muscles, honed using CAD design and 3D printing technology, before our master craftsmen handmade the finished piece in sterling silver, hand chasing sleek lines and soft fur textures that look and feel incredibly realistic.
Our cheetah was finished with gold electroplating, to give her the characteristic hues of a wild cat, with the spotted pattern applied as pigments in a fine coat of lacquer that both protects the precious metal from tarnishing and gives it a lustrous finish.
The end result is a faithful reproduction of this sadly disappearing marvel of nature, the fastest creature on land, made as part of our ongoing support for environmental charity TUSK and their Cheetah Conservation Fund.
After the warm reception she received at the Concours of Elegance, one thing is certain, the beauty and elegance of these big cats never fails to inspire. Our plan is to create a range of cheetah miniatures and cufflinks to join our lion, elephant and rhino collections, supporting TUSK, but first we have to name her. We’ll be announcing that soon, but at Grant Macdonald we know that even if your subject matter is the essence of speed itself… you should never rush these things.
