We use a wide range of sustainable and affordable materials that combine lightness and sturdiness to bring our sculpture to life. Some of the main materials used by our team are styrofoam, cardboard and papier-maché. By joining our team, you can take on your own project, experimenting with the materials to build your own designs, or be part of the exciting team-led process of bigger statues, that involves many moving parts and requires team cooperation.  

We would like to highlight our current sculpting project: the construction of two full-size protonchyri! What is a protonchyros, you may ask? Fair question. Protonchyri are mythological beings from the world of Nerakhis, whose job it is to carry the stars around the sky to warm up the Cosmos and prevent it from freezing . In theonic, their name literally means "Plower Giant" (Pretoin-khyros), and so they are traditionally represented as bald strongmen carrying huge orbs. They are associated with farming and are celebrated especially in rural communities. 

These iconic symbols of the story are going to come to life with a mixture of a PVC skeletons, a cardboard structure and foam and papier maché for the fine details. We are currently on the design stage of these giants and will begin construction on them at the beginning of Semester 2. This is but one of our different projects, contact us for more information on other builds, with different sizes or needs. 

At Studio Platero, we are fascinated by the theatrical intersection between puppet and actor. Our team already explored this unique connection with the construction of the three-headed tiger "Ruku" in the "Dragon Fever" theater production, performed at the Byre in January of 2024. With Ruku, we studied the "double event" effect so masterfully brought to life in musical productions such as "The Lion King", which turns the pupeteer into part of the puppet. We also worked on movement and the integration of dance techniques into the manipulation of the puppet for a smooth walking / moving animation that makes the puppet life-like and striking on stage. We plan on expanding on these skills in this production in order to bring to life the fantastical world of Nerakhis, full of wondrous creatures and imaginary monsters. Sign up now and be part of the exciting process of designing a fully-functioning puppet from scratch. 

Achieving a cohesive and artistically harmonious set design is paramount to us. Therefore, we are structuring the artistic vision through painting, drawing on inspiration from arquitecture in Modernism and Art Noveau. Coming up with conceptual designs for the layout of the play is an exciting step in the production process, and we welcome students to be a part of it so that their own ideas and artistic vision can be integrated into the final result of "The Tears of Nerakhis".