On a photography trip to South Africa, Tiffany rode by Jeep toward the Karoo, to a sanctuary where the animals roamed free. Near a swamp, she watched a tiger move through the water, droplets clinging to his whiskers and ripples gathering around him. She carried that image with her for years. When she opened her studio in Balma, France, she knew he would be her featured piece. 

She began with his evergreen eyes and carved outward. For his whiskers, she used old guitar strings saved from her son’s years of lessons. She had never known why she kept them. She let epoxy drip from the strings to make water.

Le Tigre won awards in France and began her series of great cats. He symbolizes the things we hold onto without knowing why, until the day they find their place.