This article will be dedicated to the one of a kind artist, Saimir Strati, who has created some of the most impressive mosaic masterpieces in history. Using the most unexpected materials to create art, Strati doesn’t stop amazing the world of art with his unique artistic inventions. Saimir is an Albanian contemporary artist who has been associated with one of the most well-known artists in the mosaic art world.

In mosaic art, practitioners and artists from the beginning of mosaic history primarily used to incorporate various stones, colored glass and other materials in order produce the desired image. However, Strati has created mosaic art pieces with an impressive arty and innovated spirit; simultaneously balancing tradition with modernity. He chooses to assemble modern industrial or other miscellaneous materials found in our daily life, whilst using millennium-old established techniques. He never fails to surprise as he has used a plethora of materials throughout his pieces, including: corks, eggshells, toothpicks, coffee beans, mirror glasses and industrial nails.

Saimir Strati is also known for the sheer SIZE of work. Righteously, he has gained the attention of the Guinness World Record nine times (yes, 9!) for his achievements.

The enormity of his mosaic artworks magnifies the piece of art, both literally and metaphorically, and pushes your estimate limits concerning the time he dedicated to complete the task.

Let’s have a look at 4 of his best artworks!

One World one Family one Coffee”-Mosaic Art with Coffee Beans

Saimir Strati has created a mosaic measuring 25 square meters comprised of coffee beans, entering the piece into the Guinness World Records. The artist’s gigantic construction is illustrating the continents of the world using 5 characters; South America depicted as a samba dancer, North America as a cowboy, Asia as a Chinese girl playing tambourine, Europe as an old man playing an accordion and Africa as a boy playing tribal music. The artist used approximately 620 kilos of coffee beans and dedicated 31 days of continued meticulous work to successfully complete this beautiful mosaic artwork. On a recent interview the artist characteristically said

“I wanted to give the message that sharing love over a cup of coffee brings us closer, a cup of coffee brings us more love than a G20 meeting”.

Mosaic Art with cork

In 2008, Saimir Strati followed up with an impressive mosaic that yet again earned him another world record: the “World’s Largest cork mosaic. This particular design consists of 300,000 corks, investing in a wide range of cork sizes and shapes. The key to the magnificence of this mosaic is derived from its inspiration of the aliveness of the spirit that characterises the Mediterranean people. On the mosaic Romeo is depicted with a crown of grapes whilst playing the guitar by the sea. For the successful completion of this project, the artist committed himself to working 14 hours per day, for 28 days straight – using traditional mosaic techniques, clearly justifying his originality and quality.

Mosaic Art with Paint Brush

A year later in 2009, Saimir attended the Guinness World Records celebratory day, exposing his brand new creation which had been worked on in various parts of Albania. The artist’s inspiration arose from his admiration of music; he wanted to dedicate his mosaic artwork as a monument to the famous pop artists Michael Jackson that had died in June of that year. The artists conducted his work by working 16 hours incessantly for 28 days, using 230.000 paint brushes in a spectrum of colors. This gigantic mosaic awarded Saimir Strati with his fourth Guinness World Record for the “Largest Paintbrush Mosaic” in the world.

Artist Banknote”Mosaic Art with Metallic screws

Exactly a year later, at the same event (Guinness World Record day celebration), Samir Strati revealed his latest mosaic piece, which has been dedicated to all the artists around the world. The masterpieces gained the title of “The largest Screw Mosaic”. For the artist to complete his project he used approximately 235,500 metallic screws as a medium to capture the Greek poet Homer, as blind. His head is exhibited on a banknote to express the notion that artists are disoriented and to an extent blind, towards money. The artist’s inspiration primarily arose from his belief that for a real artist, money is an insignificant commodity compared to the luxury of sentiments shared and dispersed via true art. With the “United States of Artists” logo, the artist wanted to highlight the special bond that ties artists all over the world.

The pictures that have been included in this article are copyright of Saimir Strati.

Saimir Strati is an artist that pushed the limits with his enormous inventiveness and artistic quality. Not only the medium he utilizes to complete his art pieces differ drastically, but the process and setting of work surely reinstates his originality.

Who knows what he could use next?! Did you get inspired by these beautiful mosaics? Have a look at our selection that has a plethora of Mozaico hand-crafted mosaic pieces that will meet your personal preference…