Kiwi — Cartoon Parrot for a Hotel Lobby, Bristol

A hotel in Bristol had refurbished its lobby and found the space still felt like a corridor. The owners had an African grey parrot called Kiwi who had lived in reception for years, and they wanted a piece that acknowledged him without being a portrait.

What they asked for

A large cartoon parrot, roughly 1.8 m, sitting on a plinth in the double-height lobby. Friendly proportions, big head, simplified feather shapes rather than fine detail. Somewhere guests would photograph.

Building it at full size

At 1.8 m the piece carries a steel frame. Because it lives indoors, the brief was lighter on weatherproofing and heavier on surface finish: no UV clear coat needed, so we put the budget into painting depth instead.

The finish

Hand-painted feather shapes over a grey base with the red tail panels masked and sprayed separately. The simplification is deliberate — cartoon feather shapes read better at 1.8 m than an attempt at realism, which would only look approximate.

Installation

Craned in through the lobby glazing before the final fixings went in, then bolted to the floor. For indoor pieces above 1.5 m the access route is usually the constraint, not the weight.

What it cost

This one sits in the 1.5–2.0 m fibreglass band, which surveys at $1,500–$4,900. It came in at $4,600 delivered, eight weeks from 3D approval.