KU student’s £90k sculpture lands on Kingston roundabout

By Ellie pullen

Two KU students turned their fascination with paper planes into a £90,000 sculpture.

The installation of the sculpture designed by KU graduates, Michael Antrobus and Tom Kean as part of a design competition, has started on Kingston college roundabout.

“Due to its scale it is definitely the biggest project we have worked on so far,” said Michael, who studied landscape architecture and product and furniture design. “Since winning the competition there has been a lot of anticipation for seeing the project completed.

“The final sculpture has been the result of developing the design in conjunction with councillors, planners, engineers and fabricators, which has been a great experience in itself.”

The project was given the grant as part of Mayor of London Boris Johnson’s Outer London Fund.

‘Paper Trail’ is a sculpture made up of 54 swirling ‘paper’ aeroplanes and installation on Kingston College Roundabout began last week.
Artists Tom and Michael said that it is a tribute to Kingston’s history and association with the aviation industry.

“We wanted the sculpture to have a kinetic quality and to take advantage of the fact it would be viewed from passing vehicles,” said Michael. “As you move clockwise around the sculpture the ‘squadron’ of paper planes appears to be animated, flying in formation in the opposite direction about the roundabout.