Matt collaborated with madFaber on the production of a large-scale wood sculpture for Iñigo Navarro’s exhibition Ayer pisó tu sombra un tigre. The work pays homage to the history of the Museo Lázaro Galdiano, referencing both Goya whose paintings are part of the museum’s collection and the tradition of Spanish religious wood sculpture.

The piece was CNC-milled in tilo wood and later polychromed by the artist. With over 600 hours of milling time, the process merged advanced digital fabrication with hand craftsmanship.

To begin, Matt 3D scanned a live model using a handheld laser scanner. Working closely with the artist, the model was suspended in a harness and posed with structural supports to achieve the desired gesture. Quick scans captured the full body pose, while high-resolution scans were taken separately of the hands, feet, and face. These were later merged into a single high-resolution 3D model.

After final pose adjustments, the model was prepared for fabrication. This included digitally segmenting the sculpture into parts that matched material constraints, machine dimensions, and assembly logic. Each segment was milled on both sides to produce a fully three-dimensional form.

To ensure accuracy throughout the process, Matt developed a custom workflow for preparing and milling the wood blocks. Each block was surfaced using the CNC itself to achieve perfectly flat, parallel faces and an exact thickness suited to the machine’s working envelope. The sculpture’s complexity required deep cuts that pushed the limits of the CNC’s reach—necessitating careful planning around the tool length, chuck, and spindle geometry. These components were modelled in 3D, and a custom Grasshopper script was developed to generate safe tool paths for both sides of each block. The script also handled the placement of alignment pins, ensuring precise registration during the flipping process and seamless assembly of the final sculpture.

Full project- www.madfaber.com/projects/inigonavarrosombratigre

Team – Matt Marshall, Miqui Guillen, Sebas Beyro, Jose Menendez