Build sheet 00 — The atelier
Atelier
Twenty-two designers, panel beaters, trimmers, painters and engineers in two workshops, one in a canal-side works in Coventry and one on the Via Emilia in Modena
Founded
2011
People
22
Workshops
Coventry · Modena
Partners
02
(01) — How we started
Elise Marlow and Tomas Reggiani met restoring the same 1960s coupé from opposite ends. They started the atelier that winter with one rule: nobody touches the car until everybody has sketched it.
Fourteen years later that rule still decides how a week at Burnish is spent. Sketches come first, clay second, metal third. We keep the atelier small on purpose, so the partners see every car every week.
(02) — Four rules we work by
A
Sketch first
Weeks of sketches before anything is cut. The owner’s height, habits and roads shape the car.
B
Fewer, better parts
Every part chosen to be repaired, not replaced, and to outlast us.
C
One team, start to finish
The designer who sketches your car signs off its last stitch and drives it home with you.
D
Honest numbers
A budget we both sign at stage 0 and a cost check at the end of every stage.
(03) — People
Coventry
2011
Elise Marlow
Founding partner, design
Sketches every car first, and still drives each one home with its owner.
Modena
2011
Tomas Reggiani
Founding partner, engineering
Runs the engineering and the test roads; has not missed a handover drive.
Coventry
2014
Clara Benn
Associate, interiors
Leads the trim room and chooses every hide in person.
Coventry
2016
Owen Achebe
Panel beater
Shapes aluminium on the English wheel; built the bodies of No. 01 and No. 06.
Modena
2017
Giulia Ferri
Paint shop lead
Lays the twelve coats and decides when a colour is finished.
Coventry
2019
Sam Okafor
Trimmer
Stitches seats and door cards; about four hundred hours a car.
(04) — Crafts
01
New bodies drawn, shaped and fitted to proven chassis, for one owner.
Sketch · clay · buck · panels · fit
02
Classics rebuilt with modern brakes, wiring and comfort, the look kept.
Strip-down · loom · brakes · cooling · rebuild
03
Cabins trimmed in leather, wool, suede and wood, by one trimmer per car.
Hides · stitching · headlining · wood · switches
04
Twelve coats of lacquer, flatted by hand, in any colour you can show us.
Colour match · prep · lacquer · polish
05
Chassis, suspension, brakes and power, developed and signed off in-house.
Chassis · suspension · engine · test roads
06
Servicing, storage and the first year of care for every car we deliver.
Servicing · storage · collection · touring
(05) — Two workshops
Coventry
A canal-side works from 1911, with the panel shop on the ground floor.
Unit 4, Canal Basin Works, Coventry CV1 4LY · +44 24 7655 0140
Modena
A former coach-trimmers’ workshop on the Via Emilia, five minutes from the test road.
Via Emilia Est 1120, 41122 Modena · +39 059 860 2210