Photos: James Mulkeen
Pin Pin
2019
Footprint have a legacy of two hundred and fifty years of manufacturing experience in Sheffield. In 1900 the new “Footprint Works” was opened at Hollis Croft. It remained the company’s home for the next 110 years until selling the premises and acquiring new ones in Owlerton, Sheffield known as Admiral Works, completing the move in 2009.
1969 saw the launch of the Footprint Line Pin. The tool is viewed as the market leader and to this day many competitors try to copy Footprint’s original product. It is still manufactured in Great Britain with most of the processes being undertaken in Sheffield.
Links have been made between the use of line pines on a construction site and the requirement for a marker to denote the heritage walkway which runs through the Hollis Croft development.
The installation references Footprint’s line pin and its various stages of manufacture and surface finish. Like the tool, the Hollis Croft heritage walkway markers will display a range of finishing techniques as a means of referencing the proud Sheffield manufacturing heritage that continues to this day.
Materials - Stainless steel, LED lighting and acrylic.