Lazerian has created POLO, a 2.5m tall, 6m long and 1.8m wide aluminium polar bear. Painstakingly researched and lovingly assembled with equal parts handcraft, creative industrial techniques and computer modeling, Manchester's Winter Polar Bear has appeared in the bustling city centre to light up not only faces, but itself too.
Commissioned by property development project, New Bailey, the Manchester-based creative design and fabrication studio rose to the challenge of creating an unmissable winter photo opportunity for the city's residents and visitors.
Tasked to make a beautiful, weather-resistant, giant version of the endangered polar predator, Lazerian took the brief and went the extra mile. Not only is the city's newest animal arrival huge and beautiful in daylight, the geometry of the bear illuminates as darkness falls, creating a 'Great Bear' constellation effect. Each LED positioned around the bear is powered by solar energy, the components stored in block of aluminium 'ice', allowing the bear to automatically illuminate from dust 'til dawn.
Research into the form of a real, prowling Polar Bear took Lazerian deep into the internet, scoping out hundreds of likenesses of the animal to attain perfection. "It's easy to say 'there's nothing we can't do' but when you make an 8ft Polar Bear you're entitled to think that anything really is possible," commented Liam Hopkins, Lazerian Founder. "The reaction to the installed bear has been phenomenal, proving a real hit on social media, which is a big part of the effect that clients like New Bailey want to encourage as they make unmissable art and design, that people feel they can interact with, a vital part of the experience of living and working in new, contemporary city environments."
POLO, named after a call out on social media, will stand in the New Bailey development, on the Manchester/Salford border, until early 2017.
