Matchstick Momentos by Barry King
Each piece of this collection is part of a Guinness Book of Records, world record breaking attempt.
Barry is creating a model of Salisbury Cathedral made entirely from matchsticks, that will require an estimated 5-6 million of them to break the current world record of approx 4.75 million, which was a model of an oil rig.
From every piece sold a percentage goes towards the models ongoing construction costs and a donation to the charity ‘The Stars Appeal’ which currently stands at £4,500 in donations from this single project.
NB:The model maker is not allowed to make any profit whatsoever during the entire process, while trying to reach his goal and get his name firmly logged into The Guinness Book Of World Records.
Gallery 21 wish him well and hope you too will become part of his journey, through a purchase of this momento.
“Having been interested in art and design all my life, I came up with the idea of building the model when I was showing the sights of Salisbury to a friend and his wife who were on holiday. I have always been overwhelmed by the architecture of the cathedral, particularly the spire. Having admired the cathedral from an early age I was inspired to re-create the building using matchsticks. It also came to me to attempt to set a new world record while building the model.
In late November 2012, I started to draw out the floor plan of the cathedral, it took three weeks to draw the plan to scale. I needed this, as it was important to make sure my model would be large enough to beat the current world record for the most matches used in one model – 4.75 million matchsticks used.
On 6th January 2013, in memory of my stepfather on his birthday, I started to glue my first matches together. The final match will be glued on the same date, whichever year that may be, as a final tribute to him.
Having spent ten months planning and building the model, I first displayed the model in the Cross Keys shopping centre in November 2014. At that stage the total amount of matches used was a mere 120,000, now nearing my first million.
During that exhibition I raised over £1,200 for the Stars Appeal Charity. At the age of 21 I was in a car accident resulting in my two left hand wrist tendons being broken and a skin graph needed, with many visits. Salisbury District Hospital had always been great at looking after me while I was in. This is one of the reasons why I decided to help the ‘Stars Appeal Charity’ to help others while in hospital.
Take a piece of history home with you and help me help others in the process, together we can make a difference”
– Barry King – Matchstick Model Maker
