We’re not the biggest fans of all the Middle East’s skyscrapers – the Burj Khalifa, the Kingdom Tower coming to Saudi and other soaring glass towers, because of their high environmental impact. Which is why we got such a kick out of these awesome candles from China.
Dubai and other Gulf cities have grown up so fast. Once empty tracts of vast desert land have been replaced with row after row of tall, glass clad buildings – many of which are unoccupied.
Gone are the simple days of subsistence fishing and pearl diving. Now we have air-conditioned shopping malls and fancy gold-plated cars (even if they are biodiesel.) And we’re alone in our nostalgia for the “good old days.”
Beijing has gone through a similar transformation.
There are at least as many towers dominating the Chinese capital as Dubai’s and Doha’s, including the world’s second tallest tower – the Shanghai World Financial Center, and one artist is so tired of the change, she designed a series of tower-shaped candles just so that she could watch them burn down.
In addition to creating replicas of Doha’s Palm and Aspire Towers, Jing Jing Naihan Li, who has worked with renowned architects Ai WeiWei and OMA in the past, designed models of several American and Chinese skyscrapers as well.
It took the artist two years to design and mould the candles, which are each one foot tall, and were originally unveiled at Beijing Design Week in 2012.
“I’m tired of modernity,” Naihan told Bundshop, an online website that sells the candles. “I like watching these buildings burn and melt into artistic pieces. I light these for fun, I think I’ve burnt 20 sets just myself.”
If you’re also tired of modernity and would like to see Doha’s Palm or Aspire Tower burn to the ground, you can, but it’s going to cost you!
The minimum selling price for these skyscraper candles is $39, though the more elaborate models are pricier, but we must say, it’s better to burn one of them down than it is to set alight the real thing!
:: Gizmodo
Author: Tafline Laylin
As a tour leader who led “eco-friendly” camping trips throughout North America, Tafline soon realized that she was instead leaving behind a trail of gas fumes, plastic bottles and Pringles. In fact, wherever she traveled – whether it was Viet Nam or South Africa or England – it became clear how inefficiently the mandate to re-think our consumer culture is reaching the general public. Born in Iran, raised in South Africa and the United States, she currently splits her time between Africa and the Middle East. Tafline can be reached at tafline (at) greenprophet (dot) com.
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