A sculptor who built a seven-metre high Welsh dragon artwork in honour of the King’s coronation and used over 2,000kg of marine grade, reclaimed stainless steel to reinforce a tree that died in 1933 which his dragon sits atop is showcasing his work at the Chelsea Flower Show – he believes it to be the largest driftwood sculpture ever displayed at the event. James Doran-Webb, 55, who now lives in Cebu, Philippines, with his wife, Yeohoon, 48, a retired businesswoman, and their daughter, Diana, 12, says he has an affinity for giving “cast-offs” a second life and that a lot of his artwork is created from recycled materials.
Taking inspiration from the natural world, James’ latest creation is a six-tonne piece including a driftwood sculpture of a wyvern, a type of four-limbed dragon and the national animal of Wales, perched on a tree, in homage to the former Prince of Wales. James’ display also features a floral arrangement planted in the form of a crown.
He said: “The Flight of the Wyvern is one of the very few projects over the course of my 35-year career which has pushed me into unchartered territory. The creative journey has thrown up huge challenges and moments of sheer euphoria. From finding the dead tree back in 2011 which I eventually got permission to bring back to my workshop to building the dragon and reinforcing the tree so the sculpture could perch on it, it has been an incredible experience.”
“Returning to the Chelsea Flower Show is always a highlight and it’s exciting to see other people experience the Wyvern too.” Moving from the UK to the Philippines at 19 years old, James first began his career as a sculptor by making mobiles for babies out of wood.
He said: “My parents were antique dealers, so I grew up with an appreciation for giving things a second life. We would strip things down to repair and fix them up and that developed an affinity for wood and an appreciation of things that other people consider trash. I started making the mobiles from cast-offs and materials that were not considered valuable, and turned them into little wooden elephants and giraffes to hang on the mobiles.
“My sculptures just kind of got bigger and bigger as I started working on more challenging pieces over the years.” Working as a full-time sculptor out of his workshop in Cebu, James said some of his more memorable pieces have been the most challenging to construct.
In 2019, he accepted a commission to be placed at the foot of the Great Wall of China. James said: “They wanted a family of giraffes sculpted to be placed on top of a 35-metre-high botanical garden roof deck at the foot of the Great Wall of China.
“You get extreme cold there during the winter and heat during the summer, and there are other climatic conditions like earthquake tremors and lightning to consider. It was probably the most challenging piece I’ve built to date other than my latest piece.”
James’ most recent sculpture is a seven-metre-high dragon artwork named Flight of the Wyvern. The tree which the wyvern stands on comes from Cebu, Philippines, and died in 1933.
James discovered the long-dead tree in 2011 and, after months of permit filing, he and his team were granted permission to move it to his workshop, and the transformation began. James said: “Getting permission to move the dead tree is another story in itself, where we had to undergo all types of ceremonies to ask the tree guards whether it was acceptable and then to figure out how we could transfer the dead weight to the roadside.
“It took about a month to actually get the tree to the workshop before we could start work on it.” Marrying engineering and artistry, the endeavour included reinforcing the tree with over 2,000kg of marine grade, reclaimed stainless steel, to ensure it is able to support the sculpture.
Constructing his pieces at his workshop in Cebu before shipping them by boat to arrive in the UK 45 days later, James is now showcasing his work at the Chelsea Flower Show. “Now that the sculpture is complete, there’s so many little details on it that people might miss at first. There is a raven that stands at the very top of the tree that some people spot and there’s seven fairies that guard the tree,” he said.
“I have six assistants so each of us made a tree fairy, and they are dotted around the tree in various spots. It’s kind of glorious to watch the tree come alive again in a different form.”
The display also includes other impressive works by James including royal swans, red kites, barn owls and two stags who stand at a height of over four metres. Lee Norbury of LetsGrowPlants Ltd is collaborating with James to create the landscape behind the display, marking the first time they have joined forces.
James’s stand will be in position MA-322 at the Chelsea Flower Show from 22-27 May.
