A tall bronze sculpture of two embracing figures in ocean-blue patina, uplit at night on a cream marble plinth in a villa majlis

Sculpture · Bronze · Private Residence, Dubai

The Embrace

Two figures, one void. A 180 cm bronze in ocean-blue patina — designed by the homeowner, an interior designer, and fabricated in our atelier to hold exactly the feeling she drew.

180 cm

Height

40 cm

Width

120 kg

Weight

6–8 wks

Design to Delivery

The Commission

Her Drawing, Our Hands

This piece began with the client — an interior designer designing for her own home. She had the form in mind before she had a fabricator: two figures rising together, separated and joined by a single open channel running the height of the work.

She came to us to build it. That is a particular kind of brief. When a client designs the piece herself, our job is not to interpret — it is to reproduce a feeling she can already see, and to solve the engineering that lets it stand 180 cm tall in bronze without losing the line she drew.

The patina was chosen against the room rather than the object: an ocean blue that turns almost black in shadow and opens to green-teal under warm light, set on a cream Italian marble base cut to match the surrounding stonework.

Scope of Work

Design by the client. 3D modelling, clay maquettes, casting, chasing, patination, the marble base and delivery by 1-OPH.

Interior architecture, wall finishes and lighting shown in the photographs were executed by others.

The Process

Getting the Emotion Right

An abstract figure either carries feeling or it does not, and the difference is measured in millimetres. Before a gram of bronze was poured, the piece was resolved twice — once digitally, once in clay.

3D Modelling

The client’s design translated into a digital model — proportion, balance and the exact width of the void set and checked against the 180 cm height.

Clay Maquettes

Built up by hand and reworked in stages, from rough mass to resolved form. Clay is where posture is argued: how far the heads lean, where the bodies touch.

Cast & Patinated

Cast in bronze, chased by hand, then patinated to the ocean blue and mounted on its cream marble base.

Three clay stages of the sculpture standing side by side, progressing from rough textured mass to smooth resolved form

A sculptor refining the clay surface with a wooden rib tool, working the channel between the two figures

The middle stage is the one that matters. The first clay is mass — volume in roughly the right place. The last is finish. Between them sits the version where the gesture is decided: the tilt of the two heads toward each other, and how narrowly the void closes at the top without the figures ever meeting.

Only once the client had signed off on the clay did the piece move to casting.

The Gallery

Clay to Bronze

Swipe or use arrows

The finished bronze at night, uplit against the stone wall, its ocean-blue patina reading almost black in shadow

The sculpture by day in the majlis, standing on its cream Italian marble plinth beside the arched courtyard

Three clay stages of the sculpture side by side, from rough mass to resolved form

A sculptor refining the clay with a wooden rib tool, shaping the channel between the two figures

Macro detail of the worked clay surface, showing tool striations and drying cracks

3D model wireframe of the sculpture with overall dimensions marked at 180 cm high and 40 cm wide

The Specification

Modelled, Then Cast

Wireframe view of the 3D model showing the sculpture at 180 cm high and 40 cm wide

Overall Height180 cm70.9 in

Width40 cm15.7 in

Weight120 kg265 lbs

MaterialCast Bronzehand-chased

FinishOcean-Blue Patinahot-applied, sealed

BaseCream Italian Marblecut to match the interior

Method3D Model → Clay → Castclient sign-off at clay stage

PlacementIndoormajlis, uplit

Timeline6–8 Weeksdesign to delivery

Delivered & Installed

Two Lights, One Piece

The bronze sculpture in daylight, its blue-green patina bright against cream stone and the arched courtyard beyond

Daylight — the patina opens green

The same sculpture at night under warm uplighting, reading deep blue against the illuminated wall

After dark — it closes to deep blue

Investment

USD 12,000 – 15,000

For a Piece of This Scale

Indicative range for a cast bronze of this size and finish, including the marble base. Final pricing depends on form complexity, patina, base specification and installation — always confirmed in a fixed written quotation before any work begins.

Some images and details on this page have been gently altered to protect our client’s privacy.

The bronze sculpture standing in the daylit majlis of a private Dubai residence

Al Quoz 2, Dubai

Bring Us Your Drawing

Designers bring us forms they have already imagined; we model, cast and finish them. Send a sketch, a reference, or a rough idea and we will tell you what it takes.

Enquire on WhatsApp Start a Commission