Artist Luciano Polverigiani crafts colorful characters that are at the intersection between toy and sculpture. The quirky figurines don exaggerated features that are appealing to kids but carry adult themes—such as the creature with a large spiky tail that it carries like an albatross. To produce these earthy-colored sculptures, he uses a variety of clay and mud and then fires them using eucalyptus wood and a glass kiln. While he uses some glazes, he “likes to limit himself to the materials available to ancient civilizations.”

Images © Luciano Polverigiani