Largest cork mosaic-world record set by Saimir Strati

 TIRANA, Albania -- Albanian artist Saimir Strati glued 229,764 corks of various shapes and colours over a plastic banner measuring 12.94 metres by 7.1 metres, setting the world record for the largest cork mosaic .

Photo: Albanian artist Saimir Strati, 42, created the largest mosaic made of corks at the Sheraton Hotel in Tirana. REUTERS/Arben Celi ( enlarge photo )

His work, named "Romeo with a crown of grapes playing the guitar while dancing with the sea and the sun" is a homage to life around the Mediterranean . He worked 14 hours of work a day for 28 days and completed his project on Thursday.

"I love mosaics, they are a dying genre. I follow the same technique used 3,000 years ago," said Saimir Strati . "A mosaic requires you to work for a long time and keep the emotion alive."
   Photo: Albanian artist Saimir Strati is using 300.000 corks on a banner measuring 96 square metres, to create the largest cork mosaic . REUTERS/Arben Celi ( enlarge photo )

  "I also wanted to appeal to Mediterranean countries not to create mosaics based on computer pixels, but as our forefathers did. The Mediterranean is the home of the mosaic."

   His 25-year-old mosaic collection features one created with fragments of egg shells and a portrait of Elvis Presley, made with compact discs.

   The artist did his latest work in a local hotel, where he told visitors: "Drink, because I need the corks."

   In the last two years Saimir Strati has been recognised by Guinness World Record officials as having created the world’s largest nail mosaic with 500,000 industrial nails on a eight metre square wooden board and the largest, three-dimensional toothpick mosaic using 1,000,000 toothpicks.

Thursday, September 4, 2008

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