Our Story

An antique dealer friend shows David an Armillary Sphere. David was instantly captivated by the ancient mathematical principles. He spent his last £20 on buying the materials to make one himself.

With an Armillary Sphere and this Samurai sundial, David exhibited his work for the first time at The Barn Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, UK.

The actor Jeremy Irons was one of David’s first clients and has been a loyal supporter of David’s work ever since.

Our old workshop was located in farm buildings, part of the 17th-century Bix Estate in Oxfordshire, UK.

Always bound by the constraints of the gnomon, David created an inspiring portfolio of sundials. (For the uninitiated, a gnomon is the shadow-casting part of a sundial.)

A large Armillary Sphere was our first export. The piece was destined for Barrington Bank & Trust in Chicago.

We had a tiny budget but lots of driving ambition for our first RHS Chelsea Flower Show in London, UK. The stand was designed by David Narbett, who had just graduated from London’s Inchbald School of Design.

Our earliest David Harber commission for Oxford University was this vertical strip dial for Magdalen College. Over the years we have installed 12 sundials at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

A design for the new century. What started as an inquiry about a small horizontal dial evolved into a model of the solar structure and a full-size Stonehenge (the prehistoric megalithic structure built 5,000 years ago in Wiltshire, UK). It was cited as one of 10 most inspired millennium commissions.

We were asked by the Richard Rogers Partnership to make a multicultural sundial for the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, a location which just happens to be the home of time.

David, Sophie and Maya Harber went with employees Rory Elliot, Karen Fry and Richard Heron to the Normandy coast. Amazingly, Karen and Rory are still working with us today.

Brass spheres with models of the planets designed to hang from the ceilings of the Pedrosa shopping centre in Barcelona, Spain.

In our early years, it sometimes felt like we were always on the road showing off our hand-crafted sundials. Often, with a little extra “help” from the little ones.

Combining old and new with a gleaming contemporary armillary in the middle of a pagan-inspired stone circle for the renowned British school, Eaton College.

Cracknell, the international landscape architects, commissioned this chess-inspired cube sculpture for Dubai’s largest park.

What a momentous occasion! Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveiled our Armillary Sphere, marking the 75th anniversary of Goodenough College, home to London’s brightest postgraduate community.

We took another brave step and bought land to build our own workshop, which has served us well. The view of a Bronze Age fort feeds our spirit.

By chance, David discovers he is a descendant of celebrated Tudor mathematician, astronomer and designer of astronomical instruments, John Blagrave.

Moved by the discovery of his connection to John Blagrave, David created a bronze replica of his forebear’s Armillary Sphere from an engraving. It was launched at the Science Museum in London.

We launched this now iconic sculpture at The Royal Horticultural Society Chelsea Flower Show in 2011.

We were honored to be asked to create a custom sundial modeled on the Order of the Garter (the highest award in the British honors system conferred by the monarch) for the 14th-century College of St George at Windsor Castle.

The team proudly receiving, for the first time, the Award for Enterprise and International Trade. This prestigious award is the globally acknowledged royal seal of approval in recognition of excellence.

Prestigious appearance of Torus on a sky-scraping Manhattan roof terrace. In collaboration with landscape architects Hollander Design.

We crafted a striking custom sculpture, complete with iconic British aircraft, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the famous Royal Airforce base at Brize Norton, UK.

Our first show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was sponsored by esteemed real estate company Savills and created by award-winning garden designer, Nic Howard.

In collaboration with St John’s College, Santa Fe, David Harber built the only working version of Tycho Brahe’s equatorial armillary sphere from the famous Danish astronomer’s 400-year-old drawings.

Due to the pandemic, we had to maintain social distancing while receiving our second Queen’s Award for International Trade from the Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire, the representative of Her Majesty, Queen Elizabeth II.

Strong and beautiful, The Spinnakers was designed for a residential development in Port St Lucie in Florida. It was built to withstand winds of over 100mph. Our team had to remotely support local  contractors to build the piece as Covid-19 precautions were still in place.

David Harber partners with the Regenerative Agroforestry Impact Network (RAIN). The partnership involves investing in the growth of Pernambucco trees and regenerating the Amazon rainforest, both of which contribute to the creation of bows for stringed instruments.

We teamed up with internationally renowned jewelery designer Annoushka Ducas to design Sycamore. It consists of a revolving seat and a scaled-up version of one of Annoushka’s stunning golden charms.

None of this would have been possible without the skill and support of our craftspeople and our incredible team, past and present.