Set of Four Nesting Plinths 600mm Square in Matt Black Lacquer

Four that nest inside each other for storage, which is the difference between a shop that changes its window and one that does not.

A plinth is a simple object and almost every cheap one gets the same three things wrong. The panel is too thin, so the top deflects under a bronze and you can see it from across the room. The corners are mitred and glued rather than lock jointed, so they open after one move and the paint cracks at the arris. And there is no ballast, so a tall plinth with a light object on it can be knocked over by somebody walking past with a coat. Ours are 18mm on a braced internal frame, lock jointed at every corner, and ballasted at the base on anything over 900mm tall.

Specification

• Dimensions: Four plinths at 600mm square, heights 400mm, 600mm, 800mm, 1000mm
• Display surface: 600mm by 600mm on every plinth in the set
• Construction: 18mm on a braced internal frame, lock jointed at every corner
• Finish: 18mm MDF sprayed in a two pack polyurethane to RAL 9005 in a dead matt, which swallows reflections and is why photographers ask for it, sprayed in one batch so the whole set matches
• Load rating: 360kg per plinth evenly distributed
• Levelling: four M10 levelling feet with 20mm of travel, recessed so nothing shows and nothing catches a toe
• Security: no locks, these are open plinths
• Delivery: flat packed, two person delivery to the room, packaging taken away on the same visit if you ask when you book
• Weight: approximately 126.2 kilograms for the set
• Set contains four plinths
• Finish: sprayed as one batch, which is why a set matches and three separate orders do not
• Saving against buying them singly: about 10 per cent
• Nests for storage
• Touch up paint supplied in the exact batch
• Extra plinths can be added later and we keep the batch record for five years

What you get

• Four plinths, flat packed
• Levelling feet for every plinth
• An access panel in each with a captive fixing
• A 100ml pot of the exact finish for touching up
• A hex key, a spanner and printed instructions
• A layout card with three arrangements that work

Setting it up

It arrives flat packed with a hex key, a spanner and printed instructions. Fittings are cam locks into steel inserts rather than screws into board, so it comes apart for a move and goes back together square. Level it on the feet before anything goes on top, and check it with a level across both diagonals rather than along the front, because a gallery floor is almost never flat and a plinth that follows the floor is the thing everybody notices and nobody can name.

Specifying it

Two rules cover most of it. The top of a plinth should be a little smaller than the footprint of the object, not larger, because a visible margin of empty plinth reads as a mistake and an object that slightly overhangs reads as deliberate. And the height should put the centre of the work between 1300 and 1500mm off the floor, which is eye level for most people standing at a comfortable viewing distance. For a small object that means a tall plinth, which people resist and should not. If in doubt, send us the dimensions and weight of the piece and we will tell you the size we would use.