INTERNATIONALLY renowned ceramic artist Mary Rose Young has completed an ambitious new project.

The artist has created a giant chandelier nearly two metres in diameter which will grace a traditional home in Somerset shortly.

Mary Rose said: “I’ve been making chandeliers for several years with either a tea set or a crown theme and my usual six station chandelier is about 70cm diameter.

“The customer who commissioned this piece saw my chandeliers and asked if I could make a larger version. I was delighted: this is such a spectacular commission and I’ve been given free rein artistically to use as many colours, designs and as much gold as I like. The customer’s only request was that the design should feature gold crowns to hold the bulbs in place.

“It’s been a very complicated process though, and the sheer scale means I’ve had to rethink the way I do everything. Usually I make ceramic beads to ‘thread’ on to each arm, but this piece will be so heavy that instead I’ve had to make the beads in two halves to ensure that they are hollow.”

Cinderford company Grail Engineering were asked to build the structure which will hold the ceramic and that alone cost £350.

The firm’s director, Andy Bendall said: “This wasn’t such an unusual request for us – we do all sorts and everything. We were given a little wooden template and asked to reproduce it on a much larger scale. For such a large structure it was important to keep the weight down so we created an aluminium central boss with 12 mild steel tube ‘arms’. The ceramics could then be added on to that.”

“I’ve loved working on this piece,” said Mary Rose. “It’s been a breath of fresh air as I’ve been free to be an artist without any real restrictions on design or colours. It’s very liberating.”

So how much can you expect to pay if you fancy a chandelier this size in your living room? Mary Rose told us a similar piece could grace the Review offices for the sum of £9,000.