Artist Peter Root Creates a Miniature Metropolis by Stacking 100,000 Staples

Most of us shy away from work that involves words like "tedious" or "painstaking," but not architectural <a href="http://www.peterroot.com" target="_blank">artist Peter Root</a>. Born in Britain, Root has found worldwide recognition for his ability to build magnificent replicas of giant things on a minute scale. Using bits of surprising materials like potatoes or flour, Root likes to spend days constructing vast structures and landscapes in miniature form. His latest triumph, <em><a href="http://www.peterroot.com/index.php?/projects/ephemicropolis/" target="_blank">Ephemicropolis</a>, </em>is an enormous urban landscape constructed of carefully stacked <a href="http://inhabitat.com/artist-baptiste-debombourg-makes-a-magnificent-metal-mural-with-half-a-million-staples/">staples</a> -- 100,000 of them to be exact. The entire project was executed on the floor of a financial building in the Channel Islands.

Using bits of surprising materials like potatoes or flour, Root likes to spend days constructing vast structures and landscapes in miniature form. His latest triumph, Ephemicropolis, is an enormous urban landscape constructed of carefully stacked staples...100,000 of them to be exact. The entire project was executed on the floor of a financial building in the Channel Islands.

"I like making things that are intricate and time-consuming," Root admits in an interview with Umbrella Magazine.

In building Ephemicropolis, there was no short cut or special technique employed. Root actually got down on his hands and knees, and placed each individual stack of staples into place.

Each uniform shaft of staples had to be broken into the right size before joining its counterparts in the cityscape.

Root had to be constantly re-evaluating the entire landscape to make sure each stack was appropriate for the shape and scale of the project.

The entire process of building Ephemicropolis took Root about 40 hours.