Wrapping a WWI Warship
GESS Ltd were tasked with the unusual task of wrapping HMS President, on the Thames, over a 7 day period, "whatever the weather!", to help mark the centenary of the First World War.
The design was created by European artist, Tobias Rehborger. Tobias is one of the most respected European artists of our generation.
HMS President is one of only three surviving Royal Navy warships built during the war and survived as a dazzle ship. The inspiration for the design came from the famous glaring colours and jagged lines of camouflage created to confuse the enemy U-Boat captains. Before radar, the design served to confuse the enemy and mark the outline, speed and direction of travel of the ship.
The installation undertake was whilst the boat was constantly moving in the rising and falling tides, which was one of the most challenging GESS has ever worked on. Over 2000m2 of printed vinyl was applied from 04:00am each morning, via rope access and small and large specialist support craft. The installation was completed before the deadline, without any disturbances to the on-board events, to a very happy client's satisfaction.
GESS undertook the detailed site survey of the ship to map out all of the convex and concave lines of the vessel, so a 3D model could be created for the artwork to be manipulated and modelled prior to print.
This task was the most vital element of the process as, if the design wasn't manipulated correctly, during the installation the panels wouldn't line up and the design could potentially run off line.
Features
- Wrapping WWI Warship
- While on the Thames
- Short 7 day period
- Whatever the weather
- Detailed vessel survey for a 3D model
- Completed before the deadline
