Our Story

An antique dealer friend shows David an armillary sphere. David was instantly captivated by the ancient mathematical principles. He spent his last £20 on buying the materials to make one himself.

With an armillary sphere and this Samurai sundial, David exhibited his work for the first time at The Barn Gallery, Henley-on-Thames.

The actor Jeremy Irons was one of David’s first clients and has been a loyal supporter of David’s work ever since.

Not totally state of the art at our old workshop situated in farm buildings on the Bix Estate in Oxfordshire. Happy times, though. Cheers, Richard!

Always bound by the constraints of the gnomon, David created an inspiring portfolio of sundials. (For the uninitiated, a gnomon is the shadow-casting part of a sundial.)

A large armillary sphere was our first export. The piece was destined for Barrington Bank & Trust in Chicago.

We had a tiny budget but lots of driving ambition for our first RHS Chelsea Flower Show. The stand was designed by David Narbett, who had just graduated from the Inchbald School of Design.

Our earliest David Harber commission for Oxford University was this vertical strip dial for Magdalen College. Over the years we have installed 12 sundials at the universities of Oxford and Cambridge.

A design for the new century. We initially had an enquiry about making a small horizontal dial, but over lunch the commission evolved into a full-size Stonehenge and model of the solar system. Lockhinge was cited by The Times as one of 10 most inspired millennium commissions.

We were asked by the Richard Rogers Partnership to make a multicultural sundial for the Millennium Dome in Greenwich, a location which just happens to be the home of time.

David, Sophie and Maya Harber went with employees Rory Elliot, Karen Fry and Richard Heron to the Normandy coast. Amazingly, Karen and Rory are still working with us today.

Brass spheres with models of the planets designed to hang from the ceilings of the Pedrosa shopping centre in Barcelona, Spain.

In our early years, it sometimes felt like we were always on the road showing off our hand-crafted sundials. Often, with a little extra “help” from the little ones.

Combining old and new with a gleaming contemporary armillary in the middle of a pagan-inspired stone circle.

Cracknell,  the international landscape architects, commissioned this chess-inspired cube sculpture for Dubai’s largest park.

What a momentous occasion! Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II unveiled our Armillary Sphere, marking the 75th anniversary of Goodenough College, home to London’s brightest postgraduate community.

We took another brave step and bought land to build our own workshop, which has served us well. The view of a Bronze Age fort feeds our spirit.

By chance, David discovers he is a descendant of celebrated Tudor mathematician, astronomer and designer of astronomical instruments, John Blagrave.

Moved by the discovery of his connection to John Blagrave, David created a bronze replica of his forebear’s armillary sphere from an engraving. It was launched at the Science Museum in London.

We launched this now iconic sculpture at The RHS Chelsea Flower Show in 2011.

We were honoured to be asked to create a custom sundial modelled on the Order of the Garter for the College of St George.

The team proudly receiving the Award for Enterprise and International Trade for the first time.

Prestigious appearance of Torus on a sky-scraping Manhattan roof terrace. In collaboration with landscape architects Hollander Design.

We crafted a striking, bespoke sculpture, complete with iconic British aircraft, to celebrate the 80th anniversary of the famous aircraft base, RAF Brize Norton.

Our first show garden at the RHS Chelsea Flower Show was sponsored by Savills and designed by Nic Howard.

In collaboration with St John’s College, Santa Fe, David Harber built the only working version of Tycho Brahe’s equatorial armillary sphere from the famous Danish astronomer’s 400-year-old drawings.

Due to the pandemic, we had to maintain social distancing while receiving our second Queen’s Award for International Trade from the Deputy Lieutenant of Oxfordshire.

Strong and beautiful, The Spinnakers was designed for a residential development in Port St Lucie in Florida. It was built to withstand winds of over 100mph. Our team had to remotely support local contractors to build the piece as Covid-19 precautions were still in place.

David Harber partners with the Regenerative Agroforestry Impact Network (RAIN). The partnership involves investing in the growth of Pernambucco trees and regenerating the Amazon rainforest, both of which contribute to the creation of bows for stringed instruments.

We teamed up with internationally renowned jewellery designer Annoushka Ducas to design Sycamore. It consistes of a revolving seat and a scaled-up version of one of Annoushka’s stunning golden charms.

None of this would have been possible without the skill and support of our craftspeople and our incredible team, past and present.