A new process to preserve history
Royal Alberta Museum
Royal Alberta Museum
Opened in October 2018, the relocated Royal Alberta Museum (RAM) in the heart of downtown Edmonton was years in the making. Now the largest museum in Western Canada and one of the top museums in Canada, the RAM works to collect, preserve, research, interpret, and exhibit objects and specimens related to the heritage of Alberta. Their mission is to share Alberta's stories through engaging and accurate exhibits and Onetwosix had the opportunity to be a part of this process.
To share Alberta's remarkable stories in meaningful ways
- The Royal Alberta Museum's Mission
Approach
The RAM has an impressive collection of tailored historical clothing and each piece is as unique as the person for whom it was made. We were approached with the challenge of creating custom mannequin forms for displaying these items, greatly stressing the need to preserve these delicate pieces of our history.
As a part of the RAM's mission of preservation and authenticity, onetwosix established a system for fabricating forms to fit these historical clothing articles. Through an extensive process onetwosix worked closely with RAM conservators to design, 3D CAD model, and fabricate these 77 unique, custom mannequin forms in a way that would make for intuitive and gentle assembly.
Process
Our in-house manufacturing capabilities and structured commication system with the conservators allowed us to rapidly generate precise CAD models and the subsequent milled forms while ensuring the accuracy and quality of each custom piece.
Final Product
The RAM's mission to communicate and preserve a genuine portrayal of our history is integral to their newly opened space. When creating these forms we understood this desire and worked to ensure that our contribution to these exhibits would facilitate the engagement and education of museum visitors, accurately presenting these artifacts while simultaneously preserving them for generations to come.
