Willard Wigan
At home, when the heating pipes made noises, I imagined a tiny person was in there skipping with a rope. The fantasy world of tiny things became my escape.Collection: Home
My teacher said my brain was the size of a pea. He made my life miserable by singling me out in the classroom as a failure.Collection: Teacher
I became obsessed with making more and more tiny things. I think I was trying to find a way of compensating for my embarrassment at having learning difficulties: people had made me feel small so I wanted to show them how significant 'small' could be.Collection: Learning
I work between my heartbeat. I have one-and-a-half seconds to actually move. And at the same time I have to watch I don’t inhale my own work.Collection: Moving
At school I'd want to be so small that nobody could see me, and so my work depicts and reflects me - what it felt like to grow up in a world of pain.Collection: Growing Up
People often swear the first time they see my work. I like that.Collection: People
People find it very, very difficult to believe what I've done. Scientists have seen my work and they can't explain it. Even nano-scientists have seen it and been totally shocked. But if any man on Earth wants to challenge me, I'm ready. Bring it on.Collection: Believe
As a kid, I lived in a fantasy world. I used to believe ants could talk. Not once did they say thank you.Collection: Believe
I was told I would become nothing. Now I am showing people how big nothing is.Collection: People
The smaller your work, the bigger your name will become.Collection: Names
Flying helicopters is what I do for fun.Collection: Fun
When I first heard that Barack Obama was going to be the first black president, I wanted to do the smallest, biggest tribute in history.Collection: Black
I'm like a mad professor, but without the spiky hair.Collection: Hair
My work knocks people out; you've not seen the best of me yet.Collection: People
The microscopic world became my obsession.Collection: World
I learned nothing at school, so I just lived in my own world.Collection: School
There is a child in all of us.Collection: Children
All creatures are great and small.Collection: Creatures
When I was a kid, I had trouble at school because of my learning disabilities. Carving is my body compensating for the lack of other skills.Collection: School
I started making houses for ants because I thought they needed somewhere to live. Then I made them shoes and hats. It was a fantasy world I escaped to where my dyslexia didn't hold me back and my teachers couldn't criticize me. That's how my career as a micro-sculptor began.Collection: Teacher