about
Christian Werner is a foundry artist based in Lower Saxony, Germany, whose work grows from a deep fascination with fungi and traditional handcraft. Since the Covid pandemic he has taught himself metalwork and casting, translating his years of observing nature into sculptures that aim to be as naturalistic as possible. For him, nature is the true designer; his role is to immortalize its fleeting forms in enduring bronze.
mission
At the heart of this practice lies the idea of giving mushrooms a life far beyond their brief appearance on the forest floor. Werner chooses individual specimens that already carry their own stories: caps nibbled by snails, stems twisted by wind, fruiting bodies collapsing back into decay. None of them is perfect, and precisely in this imperfection he finds character, time, and vulnerability worth preserving.
vision
Mushrooms are mythical beings, neither plant nor animal, yet biologically closer to animals, long treated with suspicion and fear in many cultures. They appear overnight, vanish just as quickly, nourish us, expand our minds, or quietly poison us. By casting these fragile, short‑lived organisms in metal, Werner plays with the tension between vulnerability and permanence, allowing these flawed, weathered forest spirits to outlive their human observers.
