Plowden & Smith Ltd.
“FileMaker is very scalable. It makes it very easy to extend functionality. So we could start our client with a basic database, but as their skills and needs grow we can grow the system along with them.” says Kevin Smith, Managing Director, Plowden & Smith
FileMaker Shows Off its Artistic Side
A FileMaker database that combined basic functionality with the ability to scale up as required.
Overview
- Museum needed a single database that would hold & manage records in a single location & access for all.
Industry
- Fine art conservation: Provides fine art conservation, restoration and related services to a wide client base.
Solution
- FileMaker scalability makes it very easy to extend functionality.
Benefits
- The exact location of every item in the collection is recorded on the database.
Since 1966, London-based Plowden & Smith has provided fine art conservation, restoration and related services.
The challenge:
Since 1966, London-based Plowden & Smith has provided fine art conservation, restoration and related services to a wide client base including major museums, private individuals, art dealers and auctioneers, celebrities and even the Royal Family. In fact, since 1986, the firm has proudly held a Royal Warrant entitling it to display a coat of arms above the words "By appointment to Her Majesty the Queen. Restorer of fine art objects."
A major national museum set to open in 2012 in the Persian Gulf turned to Plowden & Smith for consultancy services in accessioning, collection management and conservation. The first step, accessioning, called for nearly 14,000 items to be brought into the collection from different sources around the country. Each group of items was managed by a different curator, at a different location and recorded on a different database. What the museum needed was a single database that would hold and manage records in a single location and provide access for all.
The database provided for a short description and photograph of each accessioned item as well as its measurements, weight and construction material.
The FileMaker solution:
Plowden & Smith created a FileMaker database that combined basic functionality with the ability to scale up as required. The database provided for a short description and photograph of each accessioned item as well as its measurements, weight and construction material. As well, each item was assigned a unique catalogue number. This initially simple system allows for accessioning by staff with relatively little curatorial knowledge or training but can, and has, been expanded when required.
For each item, the building, room number, shelving unit and exact shelf is recorded.
Notable benefits:
- Tags can be continually attached to artifact records for ease of searching
- The exact location of every item in the collection is recorded on the database. For each item, the building, room number, shelving unit and exact shelf is recorded. This search function can also be performed in reverse to generate a complete list of all items stored or displayed in a given location.
- As an artifact moves within the museum or externally, an exact record of who has handled the artifact is maintained and recorded.
- Loans to and borrowings from other museums can be tracked. Handling, transport and display requirements are attached to each item and can be generated and sent to a borrowing institution. As the artifact moves between institutions, at each point in the process its condition can be checked against the database.
- The provenance of every artifact is maintained on the system providing a top-down look at where the object was sourced, what conservation or restoration work has been done, where and under what conditions it has been stored or displayed, what further restoration work is scheduled, and more.
- Objects that form part of a greater whole can be assigned their individual records while also being assigned to a group. So, for example, a steel glove can be recorded both as an individual artifact and as part of a complete coat-of-arms.
- Bilingual functionality means all records can be stored and accessed in English, Arabic or both.
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