I popped into the city centre today to have a look at the Commonwealth Games Opening Ceremony Bull. He is indeed a magnificent beast, hundreds of people there to see him and taking photos.
I spoke to his designer and builder, Mike Kelt who was also taken back by the popularity of the bull too. Mike told me he was built around a heavy-duty forklift truck use in docks to lift shipping containers. With the forklift weighing in at 7 tonnes the bull’s body is a space frame built from steel and aluminium, then lots of foam and fiberglass parts to keep the weight down. There is a lot of complicated hydraulics, chains, and cogs to animate the legs and head.
The aim was to make it last long enough to see out both the rehearsals and the games. It was then to be dismantled. If course public opinion wants to keep it as a permanent fixture, so for the time being, it lives by the Hall of Memory. There is talk of installing it at Curzon Street HS2 Station, but this is yet to be confirmed. Either way, it will need to be kept undercover.
Mike really embraced the culture, diversity and history of the industrial Midlands when designing the bull. Chains representing the women of Cradley Heath who worked in the chain making shops. The tail is an anchor, representing the Birmingham Hall Mark and the anchor manufacturing of the black Country. The head of the bull is styled on a fountain pen nib, to represent how Birmingham lead the work in nib manufacturing.
Well worth a visit and a big thank you to Mike Kelt.
I spoke to his designer and builder, Mike Kelt who was also taken back by the popularity of the bull too. Mike told me he was built around a heavy-duty forklift truck use in docks to lift shipping containers. With the forklift weighing in at 7 tonnes the bull’s body is a space frame built from steel and aluminium, then lots of foam and fiberglass parts to keep the weight down. There is a lot of complicated hydraulics, chains, and cogs to animate the legs and head.
The aim was to make it last long enough to see out both the rehearsals and the games. It was then to be dismantled. If course public opinion wants to keep it as a permanent fixture, so for the time being, it lives by the Hall of Memory. There is talk of installing it at Curzon Street HS2 Station, but this is yet to be confirmed. Either way, it will need to be kept undercover.
Mike really embraced the culture, diversity and history of the industrial Midlands when designing the bull. Chains representing the women of Cradley Heath who worked in the chain making shops. The tail is an anchor, representing the Birmingham Hall Mark and the anchor manufacturing of the black Country. The head of the bull is styled on a fountain pen nib, to represent how Birmingham lead the work in nib manufacturing.
Well worth a visit and a big thank you to Mike Kelt.