Michele Stueven
Danish artist and recycling activist Thomas Dambo introduced Lulu Hyggelig to the city of Solvang over the weekend at the front tower of the California Nature Art Museum. The new giant Dambo creation will be California’s first permanent troll and the first Dambo troll to reside indoors anywhere on the globe.
The Copenhagen-based and internationally known Dambo is celebrated for his colossal sculptures made from recycled materials. Specializing in enchanting wooden trolls, he breathes new life into discarded resources, showcasing the great potential hidden within the world’s trash cans. More than 80 wooden pallets donated by local businesses and wineries in the Santa Ynez Valley, as well as about 30 wooden wine barrels of various sizes, were upcycled to create Lulu in the town with deep cultural ties to Denmark.
Each of Dambo’s 154 trolls, now in 17 countries, live with their own unique story and name built with his mission to ‘Waste No More.” There are both permanent and traveling collections.
Courtesy Anna Ferguson-Sparks, Stiletto Marketing
“Our world is drowning in trash while we are running out of natural resources,” Dambo said in a statement. “I spend my life showing the world that beautiful things can be made from trash, and I give new life to discarded materials by turning them into large-scale artworks. These projects come to life using hundreds of tons of recycled materials, working in and with local communities – who are the co-creators of the art that I make – because the mission I follow needs the involvement of everybody. I aim to build 1,000 trolls using recycled materials all over the world.”
From Detroit Lakes, Minnesota, to Sentosa, Singapore, the trolls carry narratives about the importance of exploring and protecting nature and can be found all over the world using his troll map.
The Minnesota installation includes five giant trolls, three magical portals, and 800 birdhouses in and around Detroit Lakes. He created the Future Forest in Mexico City to raise awareness of the huge issue of plastic waste. Together with the pepenadores, their children, more than 700 students, an orphanage, an elderly home, and more than 100 volunteers, in two months Dambo and his team turned three tons of plastic waste into a colorful forest with thousands of trees, plants, flowers and animals. The Future Forest was made as part of the annual flower festival FYJA, which supported the project and can be found in the botanical garden of Chapultepec.
Lulu’s forever home will be the California Nature Art Museum in Solvang, which has Danish roots going back to 1910. Troll our photo gallery above for more.