About the Founder

About the Founder

Hi, I'm Riccardo, the founder of MyDogon.

I live in Karlsruhe, Germany, where my professional background is in civil engineering — something that might seem quite distant from West African sculpture at first.

But I have always been interested in materials, proportions, construction and the way individual elements come together to create a larger form. Looking back, that may also explain part of my fascination with the objects I began collecting in Mali.

AN UNEXPECTED CONNECTION WITH WEST AFRICA

I first travelled to West Africa in 2007, when I was sixteen years old.

One year later, I found myself in Bamako for the first time, participating in a summer camp organised by an Italian association. That journey turned into many more: between 2008 and 2019, Mali became a place I returned to almost every year.

Over time I became particularly familiar with Bamako and its markets. I began buying small sculptures and objects that interested me, often carrying them back to Europe and giving them to people close to me.

There was no commercial plan behind it. I simply enjoyed finding them.

WHY I CREATED MYDOGON

Years later, I had accumulated more pieces than I could realistically keep at home.

I began selling some of them and discovered that there were collectors, design enthusiasts and people simply looking for unusual objects who appreciated them for many of the same reasons I did.

That experience eventually led to MyDogon.

I wanted to build a place that felt closer to the way I personally discovered these objects: one piece at a time, rather than as an anonymous catalogue of mass-produced decoration.

WHAT I LOOK FOR

When choosing an object, I am particularly interested in its overall form and presence.

I look at proportions, surface texture, patina, casting details, carving and the small irregularities that make handmade pieces different from one another.

I do not expect handmade work to be perfectly symmetrical or industrially uniform. In many cases, it is precisely those differences that make me choose one object over another.

TRANSPARENCY MATTERS

I also believe in being careful about how these objects are described.

MyDogon does not turn contemporary pieces into imaginary antiques or attach elaborate ritual stories to objects when their individual history cannot be verified.

Where I know something about an object's origin or production, I will say so. Where I do not, I prefer an accurate and transparent description.

For me, that does not make the object less interesting. Quite the opposite — its craftsmanship, form and individual character should be strong enough to speak for themselves.

MYDOGON TODAY

What began with a few objects carried home from Bamako has gradually developed into a small collection available to people far beyond my own family and friends.

MyDogon is still a personal project, and I intend to keep that spirit as it grows.

Thank you for taking the time to visit.

Riccardo
Founder of MyDogon