Theophilus Annor

Tying it all together: Theophilus Annor

School/College: Tyler School of Art and Architecture
Degree: MFA, metals, jewelry, CAD-CAM, 2024
Hometown: Asamankese, Ghana
Current Job Title: Instructor and assistant dental digital technician
Current Employer: Kornberg School of Dentistry

Pair this Owl with a 3D printer and there’s little he can’t do. By day, Theophilus Annor, TYL ’24, uses cutting-edge technology to create occlusal night guards, diagnostic models, crowns and other dental materials with millimeter precision for patients at the Kornberg School of Dentistry. By night, he applies these same skills as an artist, creating intricate jewelry infused with symbolism from his native Ghana.

In Asamankese, Ghana, where Theophilus grew up, many Ghanaian parents, Theophilus says, emphasize careers in medicine or law over the arts. But his own parents supported his creative streak. He remembers visiting local scrapyards as a child to collect tin cans and other pieces of metal to craft into toys and sculptures. “That was when love for art began,” he says.

Following his dreams, Theophilus attended Kwame Nkrumah University of Art and Technology, a top Ghanaian university for the arts, as an undergraduate. But he felt the best opportunities lay in learning CAD-CAM, software used in manufacturing and 3D printing. A friend told him that one of the top-ranked U.S.-based programs could be found at Temple’s Tyler School of Art and Architecture, which has taught the discipline since 1962.

“There are overlaps between arts and dentistry. Creating restoratives is just like making jewelry. I have Temple to thank for my journey and transformation.”

—Theophilus Annor
Instructor and assistant dental digital technician

Flourishing under the mentorship of Doug Bucci, assistant professor and head of Tyler’s metals/jewelry/CAD-CAM program, Theophilus received a crash course on using advanced technologies. While pursuing his MFA, Theophilus obtained roles as a 3D-print lab technician at Tyler, helping other students and faculty use the equipment, and as a lab assistant with an independent dentistry office within Kornberg.

Science with a twist. Theophilus looks forward to a career in dentistry in the United States but also continuing his artistry, through which he combines traditional metallurgy and 3D printing to make fine jewelry. Some favorite motifs are Agyinduwura, Gyenyame and Sankofa, symbols used widely in Ghanaian culture to represent loyalty, religious devotion and “always remembering where you’re from, no matter where you are,” he says.