Harry Potter - The Deadly Hallows - Part 2. All photos courtesy of Rutters
Words by Lynda Beckett
The Rutter family connection with the reproduction industry goes back to 1953 when Paul Rutter’s father was running a photographic laboratory and working on the very early Bond films. Paul Rutter started Rutters in 1988. The third generation of the family is now in the repro industry; one of Paul’s sons and Paul’s daughter work in the business.
Rutters supplies wallpaper, translights, backdrops, fabric and carpets to the film and TV industries. It literally provides anything that is applied to wall, floor or ceiling, so it’s important to have a good relationship with a very successful film making empire. Rutters’ relationship with Warner Brothers started with a phone call from Neil Lamont more than ten years ago. Paul had previously worked with Neil on one of the Bond movies. Neil Lamont invited Paul to become a supplier on the first Harry Potter movie in 2000, this led to Paul meeting Stuart Craig, the film’s production designer. From day one Rutters produced all of the translights, photo-backings and tapestries for the Harry Potter movies.
Recently, however, flooring has come to the forefront at Rutters. A large job came in from the Harry Potter design team – to produce a mosaic marble floor that was to become the main feature in the Gringotts Bank set at Leavesden Studios. Laying mosaic marble flooring wasn’t something they wanted to get into, so the task for Rutters was to reproduce a marble mosaic floor.
“In the mid 50s, when my dad started in the repro business, the processes used now in flooring weren’t invented. To produce a marble floor you used to float paper in a tank of water with oils in it. With the advent of new technology you can print marble flooring much easier than you can float the marble effect on” Paul explained. This new technology was used while working with the Harry Potter design team, on the latest Harry Potter movie, The Deadly Hallows, Part 2.
To get things started the Harry Potter design team produced some marble the old way, putting oils and emulsion paints into a tank of water, and floating paper on top to create a marbling effect. To produce all the marble needed this way would have been very time consuming and expensive, so the design team created a small section of marble using the old method, and scanned it. They then put together a complete artwork file, showing the intricate design on the floor of the bank. Rutters then divided everything up into panels and printed it up in sections. In the end matt paper was used to print over 610 sq metres of flooring. It was a massive area, but easy to install. The final area printed was 38m x 15m with extra pieces printed for the side rooms. To finish everything off the art department put different coloured gloss lacquers on top of the marble print to produce the final effect.
The BBC Proms - Royal Albert Hall
The team at Rutters don’t only do marble flooring, they can turn their hand to any type of flooring. At the Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms this year they produced the main graphic for the centre of the auditorium. The commission was to produce a 12m Flexifloor graphic flanked by two massive 6m x 20m arches cloths printed on polyester for hanging either side of the main stage. The floor graphic was printed onto a self-adhesive film which was applied with an anti-slip laminate and adhered to a 3mm Flexifloor lino surface. This was then secured to the floor in 12m x 2m sections. Within ten days from receipt of the artwork Rutters had printed and installed the floor graphic at the Royal Albert Hall. The team at Rutters is quick.
One of the most bizarre floorings that Rutters has produced recently was a Paul Smithesque floor covering across a railway bridge and across a platform at Carlisle Station. It was an advertising campaign for Homebase. Overnight a team of experienced floor vinyl fitters installed over 200 sq metres of anti-slip Flexifloor. The job was completed in time for the visiting Derby County football supporters to walk across the famous candy stripe covered footbridge.
Mens Smoking Room - The Titanic
On a more serious note Rutters was contracted to produce a reproduction of the lino floor laid in the Men’s Salon, the Smoking Room, of the Titanic. This was for a Channel 4 documentary depicting the skills used in the construction of the Titanic. The floor Rutters created was made to look like the original lino. Paul explains, “Years ago they would have used two colours of lino and cut one into the other like parquetry”. To reproduce the floor in the 21st Century, Rutters used Flexifloor to print the floor covering onto, which gave a sense of the opulence and craftsmanship of the original.
If you want find out more about Rutters go to www.ruttersuk.com
