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Belfast’s PACK & SEND shipping firm completes Phase 1 of Tower Museum artefact relocation

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

Limitless Public Relations’ client, the specialist shipping company – PACK & SEND Belfast East – has completed Phase 1 of a complex artefact relocation project for Derry City and Strabane District Council. This involved the careful removal and transport of fragile museum pieces from the Tower Museum in Derry to conservation facilities in Belfast.

The artefacts, which include items from the Armada Shipwreck – La Trinidad Valencera exhibition, have been temporarily relocated to the Ulster Museum. This is as part of preparatory work ahead of the launch of the new DNA Museum, currently under construction in the Ebrington area of the city.

Working alongside the Council’s museum and engineering teams, in partnership with conservation staff from National Museums NI, PACK & SEND Belfast East was appointed to oversee the secure transport. The high-value and historically significant objects required bespoke packaging and meticulous handling. The operation involved the removal of windows from the Tower Museum to allow for crane access, the dismantling of internal fixtures, and the waterproofing of selected items before they could be lowered from the building and loaded for transit.

PACK & SEND Belfast East is part of a network of service centres across the UK. The company was selected for the project due to its specialist experience in the shipment of fragile, large, awkward and valuable items. The company is an approved service provider to LAPADA, the UK’s largest association of professional art and antiques dealers, and has handled works by artists including Banksy, Damien Hirst and Andy Warhol.

Work is now underway to progressively move and conserve the collection as part of the council’s plans for the development of the DNA Museum. Phase 2 of the project is expected to involve more detailed cataloguing and digitisation of artefacts, alongside initiatives to engage the public through interpretation and outreach. The artefacts will return to Derry for installation in the DNA Museum, due to open in 2027.

PACK & SEND Belfast East store owner Sam Ireland said: “We were delighted to be appointed to assist with the removal and transport of such historically important material. This type of project plays to our strengths, designing and building custom packaging, managing high-risk transit, and liaising with multiple partners to ensure nothing is left to chance. We’re proud to have supported this important step in preserving and preparing these items for future public display.”

For more information see https://dnamuseum.com and www.packsend.co.uk/belfasteast.  

Neurodivergent Manchester Artist Wins National ‘Art of the Year’ Competition

Posted on by Claire Stephenson

Neurodivergent Manchester artist Charmagne Coble has been announced as the winner of a national Art of the Year competition.

Competition organiser PACK & SEND provides a range of postal, freight, courier, packing and removal services, operating through a national service centre network, and specialising in the shipment of fragile, large, awkward and valuable items.

An approved service provider to LAPADA, the largest association of professional art and antiques dealers in the UK, the company has handled packing and shipping of artworks by some of the world’s most famous artists, including Banksy, Damien Hirst, Andy Warhol, Tracey Emin and Jeff Koons, and is a preferred supplier of art shipping services to galleries, collectors, dealers, artists and exhibitions around the world. 

Its annual Art of the Year competition celebrates the works of up-and-coming UK artists, with the winner receiving £250 vouchers to support shipment of their own art with PACK & SEND, as well as promotion across the international company’s own social media.

Manchester-based artist Charmagne Coble won this year’s competition with her artwork Trace, a photographic artwork which uses the artist’s own body as a medium.

Charmagne Coble is a neurodivergent, British, fine artist who, after being a witness to her father’s death at 18 years old, began to use art as a way to express herself, creating a practice focused on loss, trauma and mental health.

Her art also confronts the intense subject of eating disorders through mediums of photography, printmaking and found mediums.

She has a Master’s Degree in Fine Art and has exhibited across the globe with her latest exhibitions including Sotheby’s, London.

She describes her winning artwork, Trace, as, “exploring the complex relationship between absence and presence and how difficult it is to separate the two”, using her own body as the medium to, “express personal experiences of decay and absence by leaving traces of the human body through powders on the skin.” 

Accepting her prize at her local PACK & SEND service centre at Salford Quays, Charmagne said: “I’m really pleased to have my artwork recognised in this way by PACK & SEND, which has worked with some of the most famous and respected fine artists in the world.

“It’s great to see an international company of their standing supporting and championing artists at the grassroots level, helping artists like myself introduce their work to wider audiences.” 

To find out more about how PACK & SEND works with fine artists, go to www.packsend.co.uk. To find out more Charmagne’s work, go to www.charmagnecoble.com.