From Wood to Bronze: Raul De Lara on Capturing the Personality of Material

For Raul De Lara, every piece of wood has its own personality. In this interview, he shares his relationship with wood and how a vase became the starting point for a bronze work. From the original form to an incredibly detailed wax replica, the process captures something wood can’t naturally reproduce: a perfect copy of itself.

For sculptor Raul De Lara, working with wood begins with a relationship. Rather than treating it as an abstract material, he pays attention to each piece's individual qualities, seeking to bring its personality and stories to the surface. His interest in this connection began at home, where his parents kept wooden saints. De Lara recalls wondering how a spirit could inhabit a piece of wood, and when a branch became something more through the act of carving. That question continues to inform his practice, guiding his approach to wood as a living material with its own character.

The idea to translate one of his forms into bronze started with a vase. While wood remains central to De Lara’s practice, it comes with practical limitations, particularly for outdoor use, weight, and structural strength. Bronze offered a way to preserve the original's character while expanding what the work could do. When De Lara first saw images of the finished sculpture, he was struck by how closely the bronze captured the personality of the original and how much detail survived the translation.

Seeing the original alongside its wax replica brought a different kind of surprise. Wood does not produce identical forms; every piece carries variations that cannot naturally be repeated. To see a near-perfect twin of something so individual felt unreal. Through the casting process, a singular form could be reproduced in another material, preserving its details while giving it a new kind of permanence.