The Secrets of the Thames exhibition is the UK’s first major exhibition dedicated to mudlarking. Partnering with 3D exhibition designers Sam Jacob Studio, we created nine interactive and AV elements for the exhibition.

As visitors enter the space, they're transported to the banks of the River Thames. To support this transition we composed two soundscapes – a city soundscape plays outside the exhibition, while the sounds of the foreshore welcome them inside. to create the soundscapes we layered field recordings captured by mudlark Tom Chivers on the banks of the Thames.

Sparkling points of projection-mapped light animate in and around objects on the foreshore, creating an atmosphere of discovery. This subtle play of light was designed to attract and guide visitors towards the foreshore as they entered Room One of the exhibition.

Inspired by Richard Fletcher’s amazing 3D captures of the Thames foreshore, we designed three interactive photogrammetry experiences that invite visitors to explore tiny details of the real foreshore from the perspective of a mudlark.

Using long exposure photography and a turntable, mudlark Mark Sowden reconstructs how a pottery sherd might have looked as a complete object. We created an interactive installation to help visitors understand how Mark interprets his finds. By turning the handle visitors rotate the turntable which in turn animates the image on screen revealing the full plate as it once may have looked.

While on the foreshore with the mudlarks, we experienced the thrill of discovering artefacts and having them identified by an expert. To share this, we created an interactive where visitors move objects under a camera, triggering recorded insights from Finds Liaison Officer Stuart Wyatt. A machine learning model, trained on five foreshore finds, identifies the items, linking them to the publicly accessible Finds Database.

The Tide Room is a calm space where visitors can watch a time-lapse film of the Roman Hole, a key mudlarking site on the Thames foreshore. We shot the film on-location during a particularly low tide – a crucial time for mudlarks to access the foreshore. The film captures the captures the river’s ebb and flow and the movement of the mudlarks following the tide line as the water recedes to reveal treasures.

The Doves Type was famously thrown into the Thames in 1913 by its creator, T. J. Cobden-Sanderson. Lead fragments of the typeface continue to wash up on the foreshore to this day.

To bring this story to life, we reimagined extracts from Cobden-Sanderson’s journals as animated type sequences, evoking the dramatic loss of his typefaces to the depths of the Thames.

Working closely with the mudlarking community and the museum team shaped every experience. Their knowledge and stories helped us create interactions that feel authentic, allowing visitors to see the Thames through the eyes of the mudlarks who uncover its hidden history.