A look back on one of our biggest sand sculptures to date, Darwin – made with a whopping 120 tonnes of sand. The sculpture was part of ‘A Garden Magic’, an interactive pop up garden on Centenary square in Bradford, where the giant Darwin sat amongst winding paths, swirling planters and a collection of smaller sand sculptures.
The sculpture took 2 demanding weeks on site to build with a team of 8 creatives. Jamie Wardley and Nicola Wood were the main sculptors, supported by James Haigh, Sparrow, Thomas Wood, Jonny Sayers, Oliver Hardy and Kymm Edwards. It was commissioned by Bradford Council and very kindly supported by Uria Woodheads building merchants who supplied all of the sand and wood.
The response from the public was extremely positive with inquisitive people stopping by during the build to find out what was going on and to ask questions like ‘Why doesn’t it fall down’. It encouraged people to spend time in the city and was a particularly special job for Jamie as Bradford is where he grew up.
After staying up a week longer than anticipated, Jamie gave Darwin a farewell kiss on the cheek just before demolishing him, head first with a digger.
The sculpture was so popular that it was featured on the Bradford Monopoly board.
