FLORIAN OKWU
Pets are original sculptures* hand-carved by Florian Okwu...
I like to keep the forms intuitive. Their size offers an opportunity to speak fluently through material, where new curves appear as fast as they were considered, giving each Pet its own unique, quickly-evolving personality. Between collections I’ve teetered on my affections towards these little creatures but I keep coming back to them... They bring something really wholesome to my working process and re-contextualize the spaces they inhabit. Its not every day that I'm inspired to see a table as a sprawling landscape, or a my larger sculptures as towering structures, but the pets engage my imagination in these ways. Seeing them around the studio brings me a lot of happiness, its a fantastic feeling with a mythological flavor that brings me close to childhood.
I first began working on my Pets as a means to experiment with new materials. Their original shape was made from a simple combination of elements: A 4 part crossvault arched belly which softly extended into their thin legs; While on top, a convex bulging surface that met a single, perfectly circular head. Each of these characteristics allowed me explore, in a contained way, how it felt to work with the material from start to finish: The smell of the dust, its hardness against a knife or file, flexibility, polishing... They were a kind of baseline, so it really was a suprise when people met them with so many positive reactions. I followed this, and a couple months later ended up selling out an entire collection over several hours.
In the two years since, I’ve sold just over 80 pets, each handcarved from a variety of materials, including stone, graphite and wood.
There have been some hiccups along the way and I’ve spent a long time this year re-considering my relationship with the little ones... Suprisingly, letting them go wasn't the problem, but making them. I think, unchecked, its easy to fall into the groove of making the same thing over and over, happy to be exchanging hands while completely losing sight of original intentions. These pets began as experiments, and as art! I think this most recent collection marks my attempt to show that as faithfully as possible: Each piece is its own personal sculpture, entirely distinguishable from the next; Each a practice of finish, form, and a development of my artistic vocabulary. This is how I plan to move forward, using the Pets as an opportunity to sketch, play, and collaborate with the world around me. It opens the door to partnerships with other artists and designers of all kinds to create unique, bizarre, playful, sculptural works of art, using Pets as the baseline for those forms. I'm hoping that through these projects I can meet new people, learn new skills, and engage with the artistic community while also sustaining my place within it.
Mahogany, Bloodwood, Wenge, Experimental Graphite Techniques:Sold (8 of 13), 2025
White Bronze, Walnut:Sold (Commissioned Work), 2025
Pure Graphite:Sold (Commissioned Work), 2025
Mahogany with Graphite Finish:Sold, 2024
Mahogany, Black Walnut Burl, Maple, Spalted Tamarind:Sold (15 of 15), 2024.
© 2025 Florian Okwu.