Heinrich Filter, Sculptor – a wild life in silver and bronze

Wildlife and the African landscape have shaped both my life and my work. Long before I became a sculptor, I spent 12 years as a professional safari guide in South Africa and Botswana’s Okavango Delta. Spending so many years watching animals in their natural environment gave me an instinctive understanding of their form, movement and behaviour – and of the small details that make an animal feel alive. That understanding continues to influence the way I sculpt today.

The bush has a way of teaching you if you’re willing to watch and listen. Over time, you learn to notice the things that give an animal its character – the way it stands, holds its head, responds to its surroundings or simply rests.

My path to becoming a sculptor was not a conventional one. After leaving Botswana, I moved to London, where I taught myself fine metalworking and specialised in the chasing and finishing of fine bronze and silver sculpture, as well as the restoration of antique and modern metalwork. I worked with established sculptors, chasing and finishing their bronze and silver equine and wildlife sculptures. It was exacting work that taught me a great deal about metal, form, detail and craftsmanship.

During those years I worked on commissioned pieces destined for HRH The Prince of Wales, Prince William, Sheikh Mohammed, Sheikh Zayed and Sheikh Al Maktoum, with works passing through respected names including William & Son, the Sladmore Gallery and the Halcyon Gallery.

Returning to South Africa after 10 years in London gave me the impetus to begin creating sculpture in my own right. I came home with the skills I had developed as a craftsman, while my years in the African bush provided a natural starting point for my own work.

Today I work from my studio and own foundry in Pretoria. Having my own foundry allows me to remain involved in every stage of the process and gives me complete control over the finished work. From the original sculpture through casting, chasing, finishing and patination, I work on each piece myself using the traditional lost-wax method. Because each bronze is individually handcrafted and finished, no two are ever quite identical.

My work ranges from wildlife, figurative and life-size sculpture to abstract forms, sculptural furniture and lighting. In my functional pieces, trees, branches, leaves, birds and wildlife become part of the structure itself – from tables and lamps to candlesticks and candelabras. Rather than simply decorating an object, I like the sculptural elements to become part of the piece itself, sitting somewhere between sculpture, furniture and functional art.

Whatever I am creating, observation remains at the heart of my work. Getting the anatomy right matters, but for me that is only the beginning. I want a finished piece to have life in it – to capture something of the animal I have watched and known in the wild.