We’ve always said that our graffiti artists can paint anything, and over the years we’ve had some strange requests. This project is a special one and was a lot of fun as we took our street art skills and gave new life to a vintage grand piano!

The Period Piano Company have a Royal Warrant making them the piano restoration experts used by the Queen. It was an honour to be contacted by such a prestigious company, but at first we did wonder if they had got the right number! It truly is a testament to the mass appeal of graffiti and street art that we’re now able to make works that fit in so many different contexts. We spent a long time working closely with David Winston from Period Piano on the designs for the piece, going over every detail needed to make the piece a reality.

David was inspired by ‘New York style’ graffiti, the early days of this artform, where graffiti artists painted their names in bold colours on the subway cars of the Big Apple. The body of the piano would take this route, marked with the names of famous graffiti artists, but there was a twist, as we also used names of famous composers and piano players, from ‘Wolfgang’ all the way to more modern names like ‘Lennon’. These graffiti letters sit on a plain white background, accentuating the brash colours used in the pieces.

The lid of the piano on one side features a realistic portrait of Beethoven, but we gave him a street art twist, as he now holds a spray can, as if he is perhaps responsible for some of the work upon the piano. On the reverse there is a Beethoven signature, taken from a reference of his original hand writing, but blown up and painted in spraypaint!

We’re really proud of this piece, whilst painting such a strange shape was a challenge we couldn’t be happier with the outcome. If you have an idea that our street artists can get creative with then get in touch. No idea is too crazy!