As I arrive on site I am greeted by a man holding out a very realistic baby’s arm for me to shake instead of shaking his hand. ‘Feels real doesn’t it’, he says with a chuckle, slightly thrown off-kilter I had to agree, it looked and felt real!

Founded in 1978 by Peter Turnock, Bentley Chemicals was comparatively small with one product group and only a handful of companies. Prior to Richard joining Bentley Chemicals in 1988 he was involved in Textiles and Industrial Chemicals. ‘I knew the industrial background and market and it was an opportunity to go for.’ At that time their main customer was Border Fine Arts, makers of filled polyester figurines. Bentley Chemicals also had ‘quite a few industrial sales or sales where silicones were specified for applications in aerospace, but the overall value….was relatively small.’ Richard saw great potential in Bentley Chemicals and in 1989 he bought the bulk of the equity. Richard sights being asked to produce the glass of pink champagne for a Pink Floyd promotional video in the early 90’s as one of the main turning points; ‘from that word got around and we started to look more in that sort of field and people started to come to us.’

In 1994 Bentley Chemicals decided to go for ISO 9001 certification. This was seen as a ticket to trade and necessity to succeed in the marketplace. ‘There was pressure from certain industrial accounts, mainly the aerospace accounts where they were starting to insist on traceability. From our point of view the company was comparatively small,’ but starting to grow, ‘in 1994 the turnover was certainly a lot less than it is now and it was an opportunity to combine a management system with a quality system. It has certainly been very important to us.’ says Richard. DNV were recommended to them by their Consultant and since then they haven’t looked back. When asked if they were happy with their choice Richard laughs ‘yes, very, DNV work very much in line with Bentley Chemicals’. They feel that DNV understands their business and helps make the certification process a smooth one. As far as the future is concerned they are now looking towards accredited Environmental and Health and Safety management systems, partly due to market demand but also driven by legislation in Europe.

Bentley Chemicals have now provided special effects for 4 James Bond films and all Harry Potter flicks, amongst others. They also regularly help Casualty and Holby City ensure their blood and gore effects look lifelike, pumping hearts and that type of thing! If you are more of an art fanatic then you’ll be interested to learn that they enabled Rachel Whiteread bring her design for the Fourth Plinth in Trafalgar Square to life.

Richard feels they have established themselves as the first choice in their field due to ‘the variety and range, our technical ability and our response. We’re very professional in what we do’. He also talks about their personnel saying there are no internal politics, they are a tight knit team. This is easy to see in the brief time I was there. The emphasis is very much on being a team – I also suspect the numerous props and samples around the place encourage a sense of humour and fun, things essential to a contented work force.

One very important part of Bentley Chemicals is their commitment to research and development. In recent years they have been responsible for the creation of SkinSil, Crystal Clear 207 and Rotacasting. ‘Certainly as far as SkinSil is concerned it’s been a big improvement in life casting’ and Rotacasting has enabled limited runs of large volume productions at a much reduced cost. ‘That’s in its infancy and we’re not quite sure how it will go’ as yet.

Richard admits to being a bit blasé when asked to pick a favourite out of their achievements in the media world. ‘I suppose it is the coverage we’ve had on the major successes like the plinth in Trafalgar Square, it gives you a certain kick of course. There is huge satisfaction, mainly when you go and see a James Bond film and you pick up your newspaper and see work achieved by someone else, be it EL Productions or Walk Disney, but with materials that we have supplied.’

So, next time you watch Holby City or James Bond, remember it was Bentley Chemicals of Kidderminster that brought the ideas to life.

For more information about Bentley Chemicals go to: www.bentleychemicals.co.uk/

(Article by Amy Pettit)