How did it start?
As it happens, subtly…
It started out with me wanting to buy the kids a microscope, but I ended up buying a macro magnifying glass for myself. With a microscope, you can only look at thin slices, like tissue - something you can transilluminate. But a macro magnifying glass is good for surfaces.
At first, the boys and I were looking at an enlarged piece of bread, dry leaves of houseplants, mould, but then I put an insect in there!! At that moment, a new universe opened up to me, such a multitude of details, the perfect symphony of shapes and colours - I was absolutely amazed…!
It occurred to me that evening (as a sculptor) that I hadn't actually seen anyone make a perfect enlarged insect.
“In fact, in my imagination, I saw a whole exhibition of massive insects.
Then I talked about it over a beer with Olda (a glassblowing artist - sculptor), and he got excited about it too.
We started attending swap meets, visiting entomologists. We rented a workshop and started making the first insect - the Rhinoceros beetle. It was about 6 m long and it took a lot of work, so eventually we had to assemble a team of more people to work on the remainder of the exhibits.
In the end, it took us 10 long years, but the exhibition is finished and worth seeing!