Purrlock Holmes

Created by: Claire Havell

Sponsored by: The Portsmouth Distillery

Location: The Portsmouth Distillery

Purrlock Holmes is inspired by the famous character Sherlock Holmes, created by Arthur Conan Doyle while he was living and working in Portsmouth. The designer enjoys detective stories and loves puzzles and problem‑solving, so this theme came to mind straight away. The rounded shape on top of the lion’s head also seemed perfect for a deerstalker hat.

Drawing on several years of experience designing escape‑room puzzles, the designer wanted to add a small interactive element in the spirit of Sherlock Holmes. There are several hidden magnifying glasses within the design for people to find. The plinth the lion sits on is styled to look like the door of Holmes’s Baker Street home, with a little trail of footprints to begin the magnifying‑glass search.

Audio description

Listen to a 44 second audio description of the The Portsmouth Distillery lion sculpture.