Professional Reflections
SYNAPSE Leigh Marris, Visiting Tutor at Middlesex University, discusses model making and prototyping at Synapse
Based in Watford we pride ourselves in the ability to be nimble and flexible. We work for various sectors including Automotive, Consumer Electrical and Medical with a diverse range of clients. We gain most of this work through referrals. We have worked with Aston Martin, Jaguar Land Rover, Bentley, McLaren, Nissan and Lotus in the automotive sector. We also support the top design consultants such as Native, Barber Osgerby, forpeople and Roli with prototype requirements. We work with both the design teams and engineers to help develop their products. Generally we produce the fine detailed parts such as instrument clusters, steering wheel, centre stack, gear shift, badges etc.; mainly parts that always get photographed.
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PRODUCT DESIGN Middlesex University School of Science and Technology
These jewelry parts sometimes require lighting sequences or mechanisms, both of which are also no problem for Synapse. We machine chairs, chair parts and tools for Barber Osgerby in a range of materials including carbon fibre. One of the more prestigious projects completed that is in the public domain is hand finished detailing on the Bentley EXP10 including the timepiece clock, speedo cluster (which had a raising and lowering mechanism) and the steering wheel, which also had moving parts. See an image at: https://bit.ly/3hQGQbP Synapse also manufactures high quality, low volume, and bespoke parts for car firms including AML's Q Concepts. We produced the
DIM instrument cluster for the Mansfield special Vantage one off based on the Omega SeaMaster, plus the 14off DIMs for their million pound limited edition Vantages. We pride ourselves in the ability to be nimble and flexible. We registered our support for the NHS Ventilator Challenge on the 20th March. We received a generic automated reply saying ‘thank you for registering’ and that we have been put on a supplier list along with 5000 other companies. We heard nothing more. Then on a Sunday afternoon we took a call from Sagentia asking if we could help. We’ve worked with Sagentia on previous projects so there was an established and existing working relationship. Obviously, we were delighted. Due to the