Shadow Pets · New Zealand Studio
We make one thing. And we make it by hand.
We are a small sculptural studio in New Zealand. From a single everyday photograph, we craft a permanent bas-relief portrait of your companion, built to hold the light in your room for decades.
The Bench · Why We Work Small
Why we cap the studio at a hundred pieces a month.
A Shadow Pets portrait isn’t pulled from a warehouse shelf. Every commission begins with a single photo on your phone. Before we touch physical material, we model your pet’s true lateral profile (the set of their ears, the taper of their muzzle, the weight and lie of their coat) and send you a private digital proof to study at home.
Only when you love and approve that proof does your piece enter our New Zealand bench. Each relief is sculpted in a fine matte archival composite, then hand-sanded, hand-painted, and sealed by hand. We cap our monthly allocation because hand-finishing cannot be rushed, and because every finished sculpture is inspected under a low-angle raking light against your approved preview before the shadow box is closed.
“We're a small studio in New Zealand, and yours may well be one of the first hundred pieces we ever make. I check every sculpture against your approved preview by hand before it ships. If it isn't right, it doesn't leave.”
The Medium · Light as Material
Why we sculpt in relief instead of printing in colour.
Paint imitates a photograph. Bas-relief captures physical presence, using the actual light in your room as part of the piece.
Stripped of painted colour, the eye reads every wiry lock of a Schnauzer's beard, the arch of a brow ridge, and the turn of a shoulder purely through real light and shadow.
Because the portrait projects 12–15 mm into a deep shadow box, its mood shifts naturally with the room: soft in morning daylight, monumental under a warm lamp at night.
Whether for a dog or cat curled at your feet right now or a companion held in memory, a single clear photo from your camera roll is all our studio needs.
True to Scale
Substantial in the hand. Quiet on the wall.
Every commission shares one considered proportion: an 11″ × 14″ deep-profile timber shadow box hung landscape, shown here to scale beside an A4 sheet.
- Origin
- Handcrafted in New Zealand
- Material
- Fine matte archival composite
- Finishing
- Hand-sanded, hand-painted, and sealed
- Frame
- Deep-profile timber shadow box
- Glazing
- Shatter-resistant acrylic glazing
- Dimensions
- 14" × 11" (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
- Presentation
- Magnetic-closure box · Insured to 11 countries
All-Inclusive Studio Commission · $299 USD · Handcrafted in New Zealand
The Studio Promise
See your pet sculpted before you commit to anything.
Your private digital proof and any refinements are complimentary. You only ever commission a piece if you love it. Every sculpture leaves our New Zealand studio backed by our exact-match remake or full refund promise. Questions? Read our studio dossier or write to us directly at hello@shadowpets.com.
Handcrafted in New Zealand · Free insured delivery to 11 countries · Exact-match remake or refund guarantee