The logo for the real estate company Wallenstams is an ant carrying a conifer leaf, a design inspired by Proverbs 6:6: “Go to the ant, you sluggard; consider its ways and be wise!” In other words, the insect symbolizes how hard work is necessary to achieve success.

The company commissioned Swedish artist Torgny Larsson to create a group of sculptures based on its logo to be displayed in front of its Stockholm office. Larsson wanted not only to convert the logo to a three-dimensional form, but to also create large-scale versions of the red wood ant (Formica rufa). This type of ant is native to Europe.

The two large, bronze ants Larsson created were the result of his careful observations of the red wood ant specimens at the Natural History Museum in Stockholm. In the sculpture, each insect carries two nearly 40-f00t-high (about 12 meters) pipes, which represent giant pine needles. The ants and the objects they wield are displayed atop two black blocks, which came from a granite quarry in Skåne, in the south of Sweden.