Tom Rucker Creates World’s First Platinum Sculpture

Created from platinum wire, using an intricate laser-welding technique, a sculpture of the former South African leader Nelson Mandela has been created by German jewellery artist Tom Rucker.

Rucker showcased this cool piece of art, which is also the world’s first sculpture made from platinum wire, to celebrate Nelson Mandela International Day this week.

Actually it all began on a trip to South Africa in 2009, when Tom was inspired by children in Khayelitsha Township. It struck him when he asked a group of children who their hero was and they shouted Nelson Mandela. Further to that, Rucker’s idea of creating a life-sized, three-dimensional sculpture of a head and face came when he saw a Time magazine cover featuring architect Buckminster Fuller’s Geodesic Dome in Montreal.

Intricacies of the Mandela Sculpture

 Rucker has used used a laser beam to fuse segments with intense heat. Since he worked under a microscope, Rucker made the entire face without the help of a computer programme. An amazing 1.9 million laser spots were used to create the piece.

 The back of the head is made from white biscuit porcelain and the sculpture features eyes set with black diamonds. The choice of black and white symbolise the absence of any one colour. In a statement Tom said, "Mandela stands not just for one colour so I have deliberately used black and white which sit outside of the colour spectrum to represent his vision of unity". We couldn’t agree more.