When Lisa Laurén receives an order for an animal costume head, she likens it to embarking on a delightful play date. From a sunlit kitchen in her expansive Berlin apartment, Laurén combines her ingenuity with available resources to sculpt animal heads that are not only vivid but captivatingly colorful. “I’m trying to condense somebody else’s dream and make it into something,” Laurén shared, with an example of a clay fox head intricately wrapped in foil, poised for the next stage of its creation process.
The animal heads are a specialized aspect of Laurén's broader career as a freelance textile artist. Her portfolio includes painting elaborate backdrops and developing costumes for various media, which has led her to collaborate with well-known clients like Netflix, Apple TV+, the Metropolitan Opera, the Tate Museum in London, and the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía in Madrid.
Laurén started crafting these animal heads in 2011 after being commissioned by the Komische Oper Berlin, along with her partner Benjamin Tyrrell, to design a set for the opera "The Cunning Little Vixen" by Leos Janacek. This production, rich in forest animal characters, showcased Laurén's ability to infuse her artistic vision into the world of performance art, making her work both distinct and highly sought after in the industry.
