Wooden sculptures are dense. A finished Bear Couple Shelf weighs about 6 pounds. A Carved Tree Heart Block II is closer to 8. That density is a good problem in the hand — the piece feels substantial and permanent when you unbox it. It's a very bad problem in a shipping container, where any dropped or impacted heavy object generates more force than a lighter one.
The first year: what broke and why
In our first year of shipping we had a damage rate of about 4-5% on international orders. The failure mode was always the same: the sculpture arrived intact but the pedestal had a stress crack from impact during handling. The rest of the piece was fine. The base was the weak link because it's the widest and heaviest part, and it sits directly on whatever surface the box lands on.
What we changed
Three iterations of packaging later, damage rate is under 0.5%. Here's what the current packing protocol looks like for a standard sculpture:
Layer 1: Tissue wrap. Each sculpture is wrapped in acid-free tissue paper — one layer around the body, one layer around the pedestal separately, one layer over the whole piece.
Layer 2: Custom foam cradle. Every sculpture design has its own foam cradle cut to match the sculpture's exact silhouette. The cradle grips the piece at the widest points, not the fragile points. Pedestals rest on the cradle instead of directly on the box floor.
Layer 3: Inner corrugated box. A double-walled corrugated inner box, sized so that the foam cradle fits exactly with no room for the piece to shift.
Layer 4: Outer shipping box with void fill. The inner box floats inside a larger outer box, with about 5cm of air-cushion void fill on every side. The outer box is what takes any drop force from handling.
What we don't use
No packing peanuts (they migrate and don't provide directional cushioning). No thin bubble wrap (compresses under a dense sculpture's weight). No plastic clamshells (crack under impact and can gouge the wood). No shredded paper (creates dust that gets everywhere).
The tape rule
Reinforced fibre tape on every seam of the outer box. Plain plastic tape is fine for most shipments; for a 6-pound sculpture that will be handled a dozen times between our door and yours, plastic tape can lift a seam. Fibre tape holds.
Customs and international
Every international order is declared honestly at commercial value. We can't undervalue for customs purposes — this is a personal ethical line, not just a legal one. What we can do is include the personalisation as part of the description, which helps some customs offices classify the piece as a personalised gift rather than a commercial import.