Dusty old museum cabinets are increasingly themselves becoming museum pieces. Streamlined, easy-on-the-eye display techniques made of acrylic are fast taking over from wood and glass - and a specialist Oxfordshire company stands to gain.

Dauphin was founded 20 years ago by husband and wife team John and Fanny Harrison-Banfield.

Now the business, with a turnover of about £350,000 employs nine people at its Marsh Baldon offices and workshop, and is currently looking to recruit another two.

Mr Harrison-Banfield said: "The old museum business is transforming itself into show business. Everything is going interactive and museums are having to become ever more user-friendly, if they are to tempt people through their doors."

New techniques of mounting artefacts necessitate an ever-greater expertise on the part of cabinet makers, who now need to know - or at least have the ability to learn - about the things being displayed to a far greater degree than ever before.

For example, Dauphin's recent work at the Oxford University Museum of Natural History involved attaching the bones of a 160 million year-old Megalosaurus Bucklandi, found in Oxfordshire, to acrylic reconstructions of the dinosaur in such a way as to give visitors an instant idea of the shape of the long-dead creature, and where each piece of bone would have fitted on its body.

Mr Harrison-Banfield added: "Our challenge is to be invisible. If the museum visitor can see and notice our work, we have failed. The displayed item should simply float and come alive.

"We once had to mount some iron bits and pieces of a Roman centurion's armour on 2mm acrylic - which essentially meant rebuilding the armour in acrylic. It really did seem to float, but at the same time showed off what the bits and pieces were."

Earlier this year the Queen granted Dauphin the Royal Warrrant as mount makers - allowing the company to display the Royal coat of arms - following work at Windsor Castle and at Holyrood House, Edinburgh.

The work at the Queen's Galleries in both palaces involved making cabinets and mounts to display the Royal collection of fans.

The original London commission in 2001 was to develop a flexible stand for fans of all different leaf sizes for the George III and Queen Charlotte exhibition of 2004.

The company had earlier been commissioned to do all the case dressing and mount making for Edinburgh's new National Museum of Scotland in 1999.

Now, having established a firm reputation in the museum supply world, Dauphin is branching out in two new directions.

First, it is itself building up a conservation business and now has two conservators on its payroll - one an expert in textiles and ceramics, and the other in gilding and parchment.

Mr Harrison-Banfield said: "It was a natural progression to our expanding business of mounting displays, and now our conservator side is increasing too."

Second, the business is responding to demand from top interior designers for acrylic furniture.

"There is a huge demand out there from both ultra modern designers, who again want transparent tables that simply seem to float, and people wanting more traditional designs. The point is that acrylic is so incredibly flexible."

So how did the Harrison-Banfields get into the business in the first place?

Mr Harrison Banfield said: "I was a designer and market consultant in London working for the coin and medal auctioneers and dealers Spinks when I first started working with acrylic.

"The French-sounding name came about by chance. I had been using the Fleur de Lys as a logo. When we became a limited company I thought I would try to register the name - and was successful, much to my surprise.

"To start with we worked in London, then moved out to Marsh Baldon about 15 years ago."

He added that most of the craftsmen now working for the business have engineering backgrounds.

He said: "It is so rewarding and exciting, nor like other engineering jobs. I would say there are really no two days, or two projects alike."