Thomas Dambo is a Danish sculpture artist, best known for building huge folklore-inspired trolls in outdoors areas and woodlands, out of recycled wood and scraps.
Born in Odense, Dambo has been building and creating with wood since the age of five and has now become one of the fastest-growing artists in Scandinavia.
It is easy to feel like his trolls are real, their body positions are so natural, and they are often in the middle of something, just like time has stopped. This storytelling effect makes these art pieces very playful and automatically the spectator has an active part as much of the creative part happens in their head.
Most of Dambo’s trolls are in Denmark, but you can also find them in the USA, Germany, Belgium, France, South Korea and China. The building material for each sculpture is found locally, in fact, one of Dambo’s main goals is to demonstrate the value in trash and he even calls himself a “recycle art activist”.
The beautiful and carefully chosen surroundings of each troll gives the signal of the troll’s natural habitat, and they are strongly built so you can climb on them. The trolls encourage imagination, sustainability, movement of the body and being in nature in harmony with other living beings. All good things, which makes visiting them perfect for an outdoor family activity.
Photos are from Dambo’s website and Instagram account.