Dan Hero
Dan Riggott, a whittler on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, crafts whimsical characters from wood with just a pocketknife. His unique approach, influenced by contemporary cartoon illustration, has gained popularity, turning a passion into a successful venture.
Edition Four Feature
Words by: Dan Riggott
Location: Gower Peninsula, Wales, UK
I’m Dan Riggott, a whittler based on the Gower Peninsula, Wales, in the UK. I create weird and, I hope, wonderful little characters from wood using just a pocketknife.
I graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2004 and then worked exclusively in graphic and web design and fashion retouching. By 2017, I’d become quite disillusioned with constantly working in front of a screen. One evening, during a break from a particularly frustrating project, I had a mini epiphany when I noticed the wooden character sitting on my shelf next to the computer. My grandfather had carved it from mahogany some 45 years earlier. I’d played with the piece as a young child, and it had been left to me when my grandfather passed away 25 years ago.
