Albanian Guinness artist opens exhibition in Portugal

TIRANA, March 6 – Albanian artist Saimir Strati who has set seven Guinness World Records for the largest mosaic using industrial materials, has opened his first exhibition in Portugal. During his “Seven Star” exhibition in the Portuguese town of Ponte de Sor, Strati is also creating a new mosaic using corks.
The exhibition, featured as part of a local festival, will remain open until March 29.
In 2012, Saimir Strati set his seventh Guinness World Record for the largest mosaic this time using bean grains and in Kosovo’s capital, Prishtina
Strati, who had already won six Guinness World Records since 2006 for other mosaic artworks, created the mosaic in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Independence of Albania by putting together approximately 1,350,000 bean grains into a 65-square-meter artwork for which he was awarded his seventh Guinness World Record on November 26
In late 2011, Albania’s Saimir Strati set his sixth personal Guinness World Record for the world’s largest mosaic, this time using around a million coffee beans, depicting five musicians.
Strati’s Guinness journey started in September 2006 when he created the largest metal nail mosaic. The 8m2 (86.11 sq. feet) mosaic featured a portrait of Leonardo Da Vinci. Two years later, he entered the Guinness World Record for the largest cork mosaic is 91.87 mҠ(988 ftҩ with the theme ‘Mediterranea.’ In September 2009 he created the largest paint brush mosaic measuring 26 mҠdepicting pop star Michael Jackson.
In November 2010, he set a new world record when he made the largest screw artwork contained 235,500 metal screws in an artwork depicting the poet Homer on a banknote.
Born in Vlora, Saimir Strati, 45, is an Albanian artist who is regarded as one of the world’s most well known modern mosaic artists.
Saimir Strati is primarily an artist who works in mosaics. He has used materials including nails, toothpicks, corks, sea glass, eggshells, compact discs, coffee beans, porcelain and mirror glass among other materials. He is also a painter.