Amalgam Collection

DESIGN Amalgam Collection

Coming from the world of architecture and product design, Amalgam Collection has emerged over the last 10 years as the finest maker of model cars in the world.

The most respected makers of fine cars in the world have beaten a path to the door of Amalgam in Bristol in the South West of England. Home to Concorde and a historic aerospace industry, the city also takes pride in the civil engineering feats of Isambard Kingdom Brunel that he

created in the 18th century. With such an innovative history it’s no surprise that there is a strong design and creative community in the city, which nurtured Amalgam’s growth to becoming the world’s most respected model car company, since its humble beginnings as a partnership of four in 1985.

As one of the original partners Sandy Copeman led the company into the world of F1 and luxury car modelling in 1995, eventually partnering with Ferrari in 1998 and Ralph Lauren in 2010, unintentionally creating the first ever

luxury model car brand along the way. With Sandy taking a minimal architectural design approach to the presentation of the models that had rubbed off in him working with Lord Norman Foster in the 80s and 90s, and his son Leo taking the technical and engineering excellence of Amalgam’s development and build processes to new levels of perfection each year, F1 teams and luxury car makers have continued to beat a path to Amalgam’s door in Bristol. They know they can depend on Amalgam for models that meet the expectations of their design and engineering leaders.

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As well as making the perfectly detailed limited editions and bespoke models for owners at 1:8 that are the core of the business, Amalgam is increasingly making one-offs at even bigger scales for owners of extremely valuable and unique cars. Digital technology has been welcomed by Amalgam since the mid 1980s and they pioneered the use of digital scanning to capture extraordinary classics with extreme accuracy, scanning many of Ralph Lauren’s collection at his ‘garage’ in New England, and at the 2010 exhibition of his cars at the Louvre’s Les Arts Decortifs department in Paris, scanning the cars on the museum’s closed days and at nights. For modern cars the CAD designs are shared by the manufacturer’s design department. Recently a very notable Italian manufacturer’s design department responded to photographs of a first Amalgam model for approval, with the amusingly understated comment ‘“Stupenda! Questo modellino è fatto davvero bene, sembra vera! Wonderful! This model is really pretty good, it looks real!” This is the kind of feedback that keeps the passion burning in the Amalgam team and drives them on to keep improving.

While reaching ever further up market Amalgam has also opened a new collection at the smaller 1:18 scale, making it possible to own a piece of their exquisite work for under £1000 pounds, and is developing a collection of miniature sculptures in co-operation with the Formula 1 Group.

Always looking to exercise their skills on new challenges and opportunities, Amalgam is looking for commissions to create one-off models for client’s yachts and planes, as well as extraordinary cars. Recent extensions of their subject matter have included a truly stunning model of the Spitfire and the Bell X-15 rocket plane, as seen in our last edition and with a small edition of the SR71 Blackbird in the pipeline, scheduled to be completed in 2021. For Amalgam modelmaking is an opportunity to capture something beautiful and extraordinary, and imbue the process of miniaturising it with artistry, an attitude and an authenticity rarely found these days.

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