The staircase is the centre of a property – its spine. It is this that inspired the creation of one of the most dramatic staircases ever.

It is the handmade creation of Watts and his team in their workshop in Nottingham. Philip created a series of these cast spinal staircases in the Swiss Alps, and London, but it was this piece, in slightly inauspicious Northampton, that really hit the headlines. It is a blend of melting metal and vertebrae. Part Natural History Museum, part HR Giger’s Alien.

Philip describes the moment the client saw the creation for the first time: “We always build our staircases at our workshops prior to fitting them in the client’s house. I remember the client coming to visit to see the finished staircase for the first time at our workshop. I was nervous and talking him through it at a hundred miles an hour, he hadn’t said anything. He just put his hand up and said ‘Philip, shut up’, then he said, ‘Philip it’s perfect. I just want to look at it’. Then he just looked at it, and shook my hand. Still silent. It was a great moment.”

The piece is constructed from cast aluminium with a steel armature. Each cast aluminium piece was made in a sand mould using a hand-carved timber original to make the mould. In essence, you have to make the whole thing in timber first. The castings are hand-polished and the solid timber treads added. This staircase also features curved glass balustrades. The underside of each stair has a drip forming – as if the metal is melting, with each drip growing in size. The drips eventually form droplets on the floor. The result is a truly unique piece.

Today, Philip Watts Design will still make you anything bespoke in its workshops, but the company mainly concentrates on door furniture which can be seen in the London showroom at Oxo Tower.

Philip adds: “I’m not sure I’d make another one, it’s become a really famous piece for us, and it’s great, but in design you have to keep moving forward.”