Waves of blue flow from city head office as Sewell recreate Sea of Hull

It was a masterpiece that captured the hearts and imaginations of people around the world.

The Sea of Hull created a huge buzz around the city. Thousands of people gathered before the crack of dawn to become works of art, painted in different shades of blue and standing naked in the middle of the city centre.

Commissioned by the Ferens Art Gallery, the images are to be exhibited during 2017’s UK City of Culture events. The creator of the Sea of Hull, Spencer Tunick, has worked in many cities across the world from Melbourne to Montreal creating similar nude artworks.

Now, five months on, one of the region’s longest established businesses have created their own take on the memorable image.

One hundred staff from Sewell Group gathered together to recreate their own version of the artwork, named ‘Lake Geneva’, with their newly branded uniform, which includes the Major Partner logo.

Paul Sewell, Managing Director of Sewell Group, explained:

“Becoming a Major Partner of a big event like UK City of Culture Hull 2017 could just mean brand association and proudly displaying the logo, but here at Sewell we want to do so much more.

“Involving and engaging all of our people in the biggest thing to happen in our home city is fundamental to building the pride and self-esteem, which we see as a major outcome.”

Staff activities have been shared between all four seasons of the year, with directors and managers taking responsibility for each of the seasons, making 2017 a year to remember.

Becky Oughtibridge, Head of People at Sewell Group, says events like this are a great way for staff to get involved in way that they wouldn’t otherwise.

“As a customer focused organisation we know that engaged people lead to better business performance.

“The 2017 ‘kit launch’ has been a great way to get our staff together this afternoon and create a feel good around the business that will flow to our customers.

“We’re all really looking forward to the events next year as part of UK City of Culture.”

This is the first of many staff engagement activities at Sewell that will be taking place throughout the next year, as major partner for Hull 2017, UK City of Culture.

Navneet Dhatt, people advisor at Sewell Group, said she was excited to be a part of the activities:

“It was great to see so many people gather together to support the new brand. It was a great experience. It’ not something you get to do every day and it’s also a great opportunity to engage with different people in the business.”

The group’s pre-season activities began in September and will run until January which will mark the beginning of the first season of the year, Made in Hull.