If you’ve traveled across the Pacific Northwest any time recently, you may have spotted them: giant wooden trolls perched in clearings, posed by museums and — in one, especially winsome sighting in Portland, Oregon — peeking into a red cottage.
They’re the work of Danish artist Thomas Dambo, who builds the colossal sculptures from discarded wooden pallets, wine barrels and other wooden objects with teams of volunteers. So far, he has built 154 of these towering trolls, each with its own name and backstory, in 17 countries. There are half a dozen near Portland and Seattle. You’ll find “Frankie Feetsplinter” just outside Seattle’s National Nordic Museum, for example, and “Bruun Idun” at that city’s beachside Lincoln Park, playing a flute made by artist John Halliday from the Muckleshoot Tribe.
Last month, Dambo unveiled “Lulu Hyggelig” at the California Nature Art Museum in Solvang, the cozy Danish-inspired town just north of Santa Barbara. Apparently, Lulu ate a few too many aebelskiver and can no longer fit through the museum’s front door, so you’ll find her inside — she’s Dambo’s first indoor troll — in a pastry-induced daze. (We can all relate.)
“I spend my life showing the world that beautiful things can be made from trash,” the Copenhagen artist said. “These projects come to life using hundreds of tons of recycled materials, working with local communities – who are the co-creators of the art that I make – because the mission I follow needs the involvement of everybody. My aim is to build 1,000 trolls using recycled materials all over the world.”
And to charm 1,000 communities in the process. Check out Dambo’s trolls and learn more at www.thomasdambo.com/.
7 West Coast Trolls
1 Lulu Hygellig (2025), Solvang
2 Oscar the Bird King (2023), Point Robinson Park, Vashon Island, Washington
3 Frankie Feetsplinter (2023), National Nordic Museum, Seattle
4 Jakob Two Trees (2023), Issaquah Community Center, Issaquah, Washington
5 Bruun Idun (2023), Lincoln Park, Seattle
6 Pia Peacekeeper (2023), Sakai Park, Bainbridge Island, Washington
7 Ole Bolle (2023), Nordic Northwest, Portland, Oregon