A year of new spaces, new stories, and far-flung travels

2025 carried with it a spirited sense of momentum for Robert James Workshop; busy in the best possible way, shaped by new locations to see our work, new yet familiar characters emerging from the studio, and a growing international audience that continues to respond to our interpretation of literature and landscape. 

Across the year, we’ve watched seeds of ideas turn into sculpture, and sculpture find its way into gardens and collections that feel perfectly suited to the stories that inspired them.

Let’s take a look at some of the highlights.

The opening of the Robert James Workshop Gallery

A defining moment of the year was the official opening of the Robert James Workshop Gallery; a dedicated space for appointment-only visits, where collectors can see our bronze sculptures up close, compare editions and finishes, and talk through ideas with the makers. 

The gallery brings the scope of our work into rich focus, with the added pleasure of being able to step next door to the working studio and see the process that turns sketches and clay into finished bronze.

The opening is a natural extension of what we have always valued: giving visitors the time they need for thoughtful conversation about scale, placement, and how a particular beloved childhood character might sit within your home and garden.

Book a Gallery appointment

Forde Abbey, Historic House, and immersive sculpture trails

We were delighted to see the Forde Abbey Trail launch this year, giving visitors a distinctive way to experience our work in a historic garden setting. Forde Abbey already offers the kind of architectural texture and seasonal planting that pairs beautifully with bronze, and the trail adds a beautiful sense of narrative movement.

Visitors are invited to take their time, wander, and find those instantly recognisable characters – from Alice and the Mad Hatter to a radish-eating Peter Rabbit – just waiting to be discovered.

In a similar fashion, at the Historic Building, Parks & Gardens Event 2026 in Westminster in November, we were able to present our ideas for immersive curated installations beyond the usual exhibition format. There was a wonderful response to our idea of using treasure map–style trail maps to guide visitors around heritage properties, searching for our literary bronze sculptures, and suggested a promising future for the concept.

Visit Forde Abbey

RHS Chelsea Flower Show 2025

The RHS Chelsea Flower Show is always a highlight on the calendar – an event which compresses months of planning, design and creation into a few exciting days of interaction with visitors from across the world. The stand this year felt like a wonderful celebration of our most cherished works, with our most recently finished pieces – from Mog and The Tiger Who Came To Tea to Tigger, Eeyore and a reimagined Mr. Toad – adding new points of discovery.

Indeed, there is great joy to be found in the introduction of new characters, and audiences meeting them for the first time; feeling that immediate recognition that tells you the translation from page to bronze has landed.

Shop Ratty & Mole Garden Water Feature

This year's new garden sculptures 

The arrival of The Tiger Who Came to Tea and Mog brought a fresh emotional register to the workshop. Judith Kerr’s stories sit in a different corner of childhood memory for many readers, and the chance to interpret her illustrations in bronze has been quite an experience. 

Meanwhile, The Curlew with Quill was another delightfully personal creation that emerged from the studio. Bob’s passion for birds has long marked the expansion of our collection, with all manner of literary crow, robin, duck, seagull, falcon, and dodo proving popular with our customers. We expect The Curlew, now moving from a private commission into an edition piece, to be equally celebrated. 

We also saw The Wind in the Willows range take a bold new step forward with the large-scale Mr. Toad in his motor car. Using 3D scanning technology to enlarge the original into an almost three-times scale statement piece allowed us to retain the indomitable spirit of the sculpture while maximising its impact.

A growing presence in the United States

With the continuing development of our installation inside the glasshouse at Abernethy & Spencer in Virginia, and the opening of a new permanent exhibition, our work is reaching audiences across the world and finding new communities of collectors.

If you would like a deeper look at this journey, read our blog on Abernethy & Spencer and our increasing presence in America.

For collectors stateside, we are always happy to advise on editions, shipping, and placement, with international delivery arranged through trusted partners. We also have a US version of our site, designed specifically for our American audience, which you can visit here.

A shared story that keeps growing

The most significant measure of any year is the response from the people who have invested in a beautiful garden sculpture. We have received wonderful feedback from clients in the UK and abroad, and it has been a pleasure to hear how these beloved characters have settled into garden spaces across the world.

If you own a piece from the workshop, we would love to hear your story. You can share a testimonial with us, or leave a review through Trustpilot to help future collectors find their way into the collection.