Edmonton senior builds matchstick fashions of iconic landmarks

Esmond Warren has spent numerous hours creating fashions of iconic venues from all over the world — utilizing matchsticks.

“Our daughter, Caroline, she gave me the first model for Christmas as a kit,” Warren defined. “From there, it just grew.”

In his basement you’ll discover replicas of the Taj Mahal in India, the Tower Bridge in London and the Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris.

“I always like working with my hands, and I find it interesting — I just enjoy doing it and creating something,” Warren stated.

Depending on the scale, the kits can have upwards of seven,000 matchsticks and dozens of blueprints.

Warren famous the Tower Bridge mannequin got here with 100 pages and took 235 hours to construct.

“It’s challenging to do it, and I like a little bit of a challenge. It’s very relaxing to work on it,” he stated.

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There are a couple of fashions in his assortment that he made on his personal and not using a equipment; like his farm — the place he and his spouse lived for many years.

Now the 87-year-old is engaged on a reproduction of the Alberta Legislature, which he hopes to complete this winter.

“Went down to the legislature, and I stepped off all the dimensions of it and drew a map for myself, and brought it and took a lot of pictures, and then came home and got to work,” he stated.

“It’s harder, because I had to imagine things and then cut the wood, but I was working from photographs of the building, so it’s okay.”

While Warren is pleased with his work, he doesn’t need to preserve them.

“The problem is, when I keep making them, what do I do with them?

“They just stay down in our basement and I would really like to display them somewhere [publically].”

Watch the video above to see extra of the matchstick fashions.

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