During the summer of 2026, we were commissioned to build a selection of magical artefacts and creatures from the Alderlore Book- Volume 1. The props were designed to form part of a permanent immersive experience at World Builders on Queen Street, in the beautiful city of Bath.

Housed within a five-storey Georgian building, each floor transports visitors into a different world from the World Builders collection. Alderlore occupies the lower-ground floor, where we were commissioned to bring a selection of its fantastical technologies and creatures to life.

The client wanted us to create one of the largest and most visually menacing arachnids featured in the books. With a leg span of 30cm and a pair of striking, bright orange eyes, it was certainly an imposing design.

The brief was for the creature to be presented within an old-fashioned taxidermy-style specimen display, so we set about creating our own piece of faux taxidermy. The spider was carefully positioned within a vintage-inspired specimen box, designed to give the impression that it had been collected, preserved and transported from some far-flung corner of the Alderlore world.

To add to its sense of history, a manifesto was added on the inside of the lid, along with a stencil indicating its origin on the exterior of the box. These small details help tell the story of the object, suggesting that it has travelled across seas and passed through the hands of numerous owners before eventually finding its way into the World Builders collection.

The result is a tactile and characterful prop that blurs the line between artefact and specimen, designed not simply to represent the world of Alderlore, but to make visitors feel as though they have discovered a genuine relic from within it.