Creating a big racket at Wimbledon's famous Tennis tournament

As we say goodbye to summer, we’re looking back at one of our biggest summer installations, a rather spectacular transformation of Caffè Nero at Wimbledon Station.

Created for Wimbledon fortnight, the activation brought together matcha, tennis, giant strawberries, and perhaps most importantly, one very large tennis racket.

At 2.65 metres high and 7.5 metres long, the racket was a serious piece of fabrication. It had to look convincingly like an oversized tennis racket whilst also being robust enough to sit on a roof, exposed to the elements and several metres above a busy public space.

We built up the racket’s curved form using shaped wooden sections, carefully cutting and assembling the pieces to create the oversized frame. Working with wood gave us the flexibility to build the curves accurately while keeping the construction practical and manageable in the workshop. The internal structure was then built up with the racket strings, creating the familiar grid across the head.

 

The entrance to Caffè Nero got the full Wimbledon treatment too. We fabricated a custom metal mesh frame around the doorway, creating an upside-down U-shaped structure dressed in layers of box hedging and leafy English-style foliage, with larger hero leaves added by hand on site to give the whole thing a natural, overgrown feel.

And then there were the giant strawberries. These were carved from polystyrene to create the oversized forms before being hardcoated and painted to give them a natural, juicy appearance.

Inside, the scale and complexity of the build continued. The counters were given new steel fronts, incorporating cut-out branding that could be illuminated from behind. The counter tops were also prepared to accommodate the all important matcha machines. Everything had to work as a functioning service environment as well as looking the part.

On paper, this brief was a collection of big visuals; a 7.5-metre racket, foliage, giant strawberries, tennis-ball mirrors, illuminated branding and a complete interior transformation. In the workshop, those ideas became structures, templates, carved forms and fabricated panels, with each one requiring its own combination of materials, techniques and problem solving.

This is where the Plunge team really comes into its own. We take what might seem like a crazy idea and turn it into something real. We work out exactly how to build it, make it structurally sound, then bring it to life in a way that works within the space.