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.

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.

The microscopic world became my obsession.

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.

Flying helicopters is what I do for fun.

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.

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.