Illustrawood: caricatures turned into wooden avatars

The project

Illustrawood starts with an image and turns a portrait into a personal object. Nunzio creates the caricature, which Archicercle transforms into a wooden avatar on a base. The original illustration is also available in a frame that can be personalised.

The studio’s contribution focuses on translating the caricature into a wooden format, taking Nunzio’s drawing as the starting point. The character becomes a freestanding silhouette on a base, separate from the rectangular background of the framed version.

The campaign brings together different ways of depicting each person: standing portraits, a figure at a computer, a woman accompanied by two dogs, and characters on a bicycle or an aeroplane. Oversized heads and small bodies give the caricatures a consistent visual language, while the elements accompanying each figure distinguish the individual pieces.

Personalisation extends beyond the portrait. A message can be engraved on the base, and the wooden frame can include a name or a dedication. These provide two separate places for text while keeping the illustration as the focus.

The avatar and framed drawing offer two presentations of the same caricature: a tabletop figure and an illustration set within a frame. Illustrawood brings them together as a personal gift, combining Nunzio’s work with its conversion into wood by Archicercle.

The same caricature moves from the frame to a freestanding silhouette on a base.

A name on the frame and a message on the base: two ways to personalise the piece alongside the portrait.

Processes and materials: fabrication services · available materials · studio machinery.