How tiny firm went from nowhere to some of world's biggest stages

FROM a small studio in Cardiff to working on some of the biggest creative projects around the world Matt Wild, has transformed his business over the past 15 years.

- TAITE JOHNSON

(Matt and Samantha Wild)

Wild Creations, the company behind the Ball in the Wall and the Caerphilly Castle dragon, is based in a warehouse in Cardiff and has worked with some enormous companies and created models for some of the world's largest and most popular theme parks.

Matt set up the business in 2010 after a stint as a set dresser on the Doctor Who set working on Matt Smith's Tardis. After working on the TV set for around five years, Matt wanted to do something different and set up his own company.

One of Wild's first famous creations was the Ball in the Wall - a giant rugby ball embedded into Cardiff Castle for the 2015 Rugby World Cup.

The impressive sculpture gained attraction from people across the world with Matt getting his “15 minutes of fame”.

He said: “We put quite a lot of work into how to rig it, how to make it look as realistic as we could. I think that’s what we offer as a company - we go the extra mile just to make it so that it’s not just a sculpture of a rugby ball. It looks like a rugby ball is in the wall.

“That following morning I always say it was my 15 minutes of fame because I ended up on the telly, newspapers were asking to speak to me. I felt like a little superstar.

“One of the papers had put England 0-1 Wales with a picture of the ball on it. Somebody who I know was doing a community project in Africa and one of the kids came up to him with a photo of the ball.”

Over the past 10 years since the Ball in the Wall, Wild Creations has grown massively, now working from a 22,000sq ft workshop in Cardiff with 50 full-time staff as well as freelancers, and a turnover 15 times as much as before.