French artist Richard Orlinski is known for his large-scale vibrant sculptures

The contemporary art world might turn up its nose at Richard Orlinski’s Disney collaborations, but the French artist couldn’t care less. For him, it’s about connecting with as many people as possible. Here, Jess Brown speaks to the artist about making his work accessible, saying yes to every opportunity and his love of Andy Warhol

Pikachu (yellow resin) by Richard Orlinski

LUX: Can you talk us through your sculpting process? Do you begin by sketching, or by experimenting with your chosen material?
Richard Orlinski: It really depends. Sometimes I start with computers, sometimes I start just by watching nature. I’ve been somewhere like Mexico, for example, watching the animals for inspiration and then I will make a mould. I have so many ideas, I know what I want to do, but what about the size and about the material? So as I said, sometimes I draw the design on computer to try it out and then I 3D print it to see what will happen. So there’s a big block of polystyrene foam and  a real robot picking away at the material until a sculpture appears. Then I can change it by hand and make a mould. For one sculpture, I need 10,15, 20 sometimes even more moulds. These are for the resin and then we stick them together. But I also work with aluminium and stainless steel which requires laser cutting. I’m not working alone though, I work with a big team and together we work out how to fix things. Of course, I have the final say but I always listen to what my team says about the creation – having ten brains is better than one.

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LUX: How long does it typically take to make a piece?
Richard Orlinski: I’m like a kid. I’m always very much in a hurry to make things, but sometimes, it’s not possible to do it quickly. It depends on the complexity of the project and sometimes it can take a very long time. Time can be a real problem if I have a big commission, for example, someone asking for something to be ready in 15 days. Even if the person is offering me billions, it still wouldn’t be possible. Some of my pieces can take six months to create, sometimes a year.

LUX: How do you think your artistic style has evolved over the years? Was there a moment when you felt that you’d found your niche?
Richard Orlinski: I have no red line underneath my work. One day I do, that day I do something else. I find inspiration everywhere and I want to be free, but also for the auctioneer and the art buyer customers to feel free to take what they want from my sculptures. I find it interesting that you can ask three different people about one sculpture and they’ll say something different: ‘Oh it’s against petrol or it’s against pollution.’ People read the piece through their own emotion and I’m okay with that. I love watching kids seeing the sculptures and laughing. For me, it’s about connection and sharing with the world, I suppose that’s my ‘niche’. I’m really mainstream. I like commercial music, I like the things that everyone likes and I don’t want my work to be elite.

One of Richard Orlinski’s resin animal sculptures

LUX: Speaking of sharing and connecting, your work has been exhibited on the ski slopes of Courchevel. Do you ever consider where your work is going to be exhibited when you’re making it?
Richard Orlinski: No, never. In Courchevel, we put animals because it goes with the snow: the wolf, the bear. But you know, my work can go anywhere. Last year, I was in old coal mines in the North of France. All of the people are poor there because there’s no more more work since the mines shut down. I put my sculpture there and they were so happy. I really like that it’s not for money, it’s for sharing and I was so happy to see their reaction. I was supposed to stay for one hour, but I stayed for two days in the end because there were so many people to meet.

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LUX: Do you have a particular type of person that your work is aimed at or is it for everyone?
Richard Orlinski: Any religion, any age, from all kinds of backgrounds. We have sculptures for a million dollars and sculptures for a few euros because I make some co-branding with Disney and you can find a small Mickey Mouse for fifty pounds. I’m very proud of those kinds of collaborations. Many of my followers, don’t have money to buy sculptures, to buy art, but they can maybe afford to buy the Mickey Mouse and they’re proud to show that to their friends. I like this connection with people. Not everyone likes that approach though. I’m not loved by other artists or by the establishment because I break the code.

‘Wild Kong’ by Richard Orlinski

LUX: What draws you to sculpt animals in particular?
Richard Orlinski: It’s really simple. You would have made the same choice. What do you like when you’re a kid? You like to to go to the zoo, you like animals on TV. Basically all of the cartoons have animals in them, and even if you look back historically, humans have always had this connection with animals. Think about ancient Egyptian culture, Greece, all of the old civilisations. So when I was a kid, maybe as young as four years old, I started created small elephants and hippos.

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LUX: Which artists from past or present have been the biggest influence on your work?
Richard Orlinski: I think maybe Andy Warhol, not so much his work, but I think he is really amazing. He was from the commercial side, he was a publicist and he did so many things. I think if he had internet during his time, he would be huge now. I mean he is still huge now, but he would be like a king of the world because he was making movies, books, kitchen appliances and everything was amazing. Anyway, he started from the commercial side of things and nobody loved him, but I think he opened a way through pop art. I like his mind, his way of thinking.

Richard Orlinski has an ongoing collaboration with luxury watch brand Hublot. Pictured here: Classic Fusion Tourbillon Orlinski Sapphire. Below: The artist wearing the Classic Fusion Aerofusion Chronograph Orlinski

LUX: You also make lots of different things: music, sculpture, fashion. How do your artistic mediums intersect or influence one another?
Richard Orlinski: For me, art is not just sculpture or painting or music – art is everything. Nowadays, we tend to put people in a cage, we categorise them, but I think when you have a certain sensibility, you can feel something about music and about sculpture. At my studio, I have a sculptural studio and my studio for music downstairs. I work with a lot of different people: people from music, people from TV, rappers. It’s a real melting pot. I like this mixed energy.

LUX: Finally, what are you currently working on?
Richard Orlinski: I have so many projects. I’m working now on a club in Belgium, and then we’re going to build a huge disco in Europe. I get a lot of offers for collaboration and I always want to say yes, sometimes I can, sometimes I can’t. I also have my sculptures, of course, and my ongoing collaboration with Hublot. I like doing new things, taking on new opportunities.

Find out more: richardorlinski.fr

The Great Migration, Tanzania & Kenya

Geoffrey Kent is the founder, chairman, and CEO of Abercrombie & Kent, one of the world’s most respected luxury travel companies. In his first column for LUX, Mr. Kent marvels at nature’s most extraordinary wonders.

From Africa at its rawest to Japan at its most genteel, experiencing these natural phenomena will remind even the most jaded traveller of what a privilege travel is and our place in the world. I have always believed that in nature we are completely unified with all of life…

Sakura, Japan

No season’s arrival is more celebrated than that of spring. People rejoice in shaking off winter’s grip and greeting the season of new life. In Japan, one million cherry trees blossom. Known as sakura, it starts in the south and moves northwards, following a wave of warm weather. Clouds of pink appear as daytime temperatures reach 17 degrees Celsius. As they have been doing for centuries, locals picnic under these trees – a custom known as hanami. In the modern capital Tokyo, people flock to Ueno Park. In the ancient Kyoto, the Philosopher’s Path is an inviting place to relax and reflect on the wonder of nature.

Sakura, Japan

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In my experience the most rewarding, but often over-looked way to experience Japan – from its timeless mountain villages to its delicate cuisine, distinctive architecture and graceful gardens – is to approach it from the sea. A small expedition yacht provides just the right balance between luxurious on-board amenities and access to remote villages, places that the big cruise ships simply can’t reach. This access illuminates Japan’s history and culture, arts and architecture, gardens and nature, as well as its culinary traditions, with experiences that reveal the country through a local lens.

Each day brings unexpected delights. During one visit to beautiful Kenroku-en Gardens, we were invited into a teahouse to savour delicious ‘fragrant peach’ ice cream.

The Great Migration, Tanzania & Kenya

Every year more than a 1.5 million wildebeest, 200,000 Burchell’s zebra and a smattering of trailing Thomson’s gazelle make a 1,900km odyssey between Tanzania’s Serengeti and the Masai Mara in Kenya. Instinct and the smell of rain spurs the herds forward with two things in mind: food and water. They are following the rains in search of fresh grass. Along the way, many migrating animals fall prey to waiting predators including lion, leopard, cheetah, crocodile and hyena.

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One year when I was on safari with Richard Burton, I was getting him a drink at the bar in the mess tent when I heard a roar and a lot of screaming and turned to see two lions bringing down a buffalo in our campfire. I quickly upended the table, sending the crystal and china flying, and gathered the guests behind it as a barricade. What an amazing spectacle it was to watch! The next day Richard Burton wanted to know if we could do it again. He thought I’d set the whole thing up – nature is full of surprises!

During the Migration, sightings of predators taking down prey are common. Visit Tanzania between January and early March to see thousands of wildebeest being born each day. Then from June through September, vast herds are on the move through Kenya.

The Monarch Butterfly Migration, Mexico

The migration of the Monarch butterflies is one of the most astonishing of all natural wonders. Every autumn, tens of millions of Monarchs travel from the eastern USA and Canada to Mexico’s Sierra Madre Oriental Mountains – their winter hibernation grounds. It’s an epic journey for these creatures in distance and – most intriguingly – they do it without ever having been there before. A butterfly that departs from Canada will never return. Nor will its progeny for the next two generations. It is the third generation that sets off once more from Canada for the same twelve mountains… 5,500 kilometres away. An amazing natural mystery.

The March of the Penguins, Antarctica

For those dreaming of genuine adventure, Antarctica is nature’s last frontier. This pristine landscape of mountains and glaciers remains largely untouched by civilization and wildlife abounds.

One of the most inspiring is the Emperor Penguin colony in Atka Bay along the Weddell Sea coast of Antarctica. The penguins breed on the sea-ice in bitterly cold conditions. Once an egg is laid, the female leaves the colony, giving the egg to her partner, who carefully puts it on top of his feet and covers it with a skin fold to keep the egg warm – even when the temperature drops below −35°C.

The mother will return in July when the chick is ready to hatch. They are very small, weighing only about 150–200g (adult penguins weigh 22-30kg at this time of year). They have a thin layer of down and are not yet able to regulate their own body temperature, so it is up to the parents to keep the chicks warm.

The March of the Penguins, Antarctica

By September, the chicks have grown a thick cover of down and are developing quite rapidly. Growing requires a lot of energy so they are always hungry. It now takes both parents to go out and gather food for the youngsters. At night, the little ones left in the colony form huddles to keep warm.

In December – when we visit the colony – the chicks are nearly as big as their parents. Small black patches appear on their flippers. They are beginning to grow real feathers and they start shedding their down.

Warmer temperatures cause the ice to break up, bringing open water closer to the nesting site. The chicks are now old enough to swim and fish, and we watch enthralled as they begin to take to the ocean themselves.