Every summer, when I go to Denmark to visit my friends and family, I have The Forgotten Giants by Thomas Dambo on my ‘wanna go see list’. But my friends and family are great company, so I still haven’t made it. Therefore, when I realized that the giants had made it across the Atlantic and some of them even found outside Chicago right on my summer roadtrip route, I was so excited.
Turning trash to art Thomas Dambo is a Danish artist and designer working to turn what we consider trash into art. Thomas bio will tell you that he was building things already as a kid, starting with soapboxes and tree houses. He thought, he was meant to be a carpenter, but ended up going to Design School instead. This is where he fell in love with the concept of upcycling . Thomas first big project was the Happy City Birds, turning reclaimed wood into new homes for big city wildlife. According to Thomas, the birdhouse project was inspired by his grandmother. He did start out as a graffiti street artist, but his grandmother told him, that graffiti was an artform not all people would understand. Birdhouses on the other hand would be something everybody could appreciate.
Reclaimed giants Thomas is still building birdhouses, but has also moved onto bigger projects, or giant projects so to speak. He is now working with a team of designers and volunteers still using reclaimed wood and sometime plastic to create giant sculptures. Several of Thomas Dambo and team’s sculptures portray giant trolls, who have come to this planet to remind us that we need to find the balance between being and plants.
Trolls will travel The first giants were build in Denmark, starting out in Jylland and later moving to the less prominent suburbs of Copenhagen. But it seems there is no stopping the trolls, as you can now find them in several location around the USA. Who knows where they will go next?
The giants I found are located at Morton Arboreum outside Chicago. A total of six trolls were build in this location this spring. Troll hunt treasure maps come with the entrance fee to the Arboreum.