Stages of Creation

The idea of the “Giant Cask” project was conceived for the first time in spring 2013, and we planned to present it at a significant wine-related event. We decided on the Wine Festival in Bordeaux, which took place in June 2014.

Therefore, between spring 2013 and summer 2014, we needed to accomplish the following tasks:

• ask local wineries for old barrels that were no longer being used for fermentation;

• add some decoration to these old barrels – in other words, paint them;

• build friendly relations with partner-collectors of wine corks and place our barrels in their establishments. This meant restaurants, wine caves and wine bars;

• collect 300,000 wine corks, preferably from all over the world, not only from Bordeaux and France; the idea was a more exciting, international “Giant Cask”. However, the majority of corks were bought from the Agir Cancer Gironde charity;

• declare our intentions to the citizens and visitors of Bordeaux. On the 14th of February 2014 we “laid down” the first corks on the central square of Bordeaux – La Place de la Comédie – a historic place in the city. This event did not go unnoticed and attracted the keen interest of locals and tourists alike;

Watch the filmGiant Cask © Montage, vidéo : Laurent Meunier

• prepare and send our record attempt request to Guinness World Records;

• find an artist and define the theme of the mosaic;

• find volunteers for the creation of the mosaic;

• sort corks by color and size;

• transfer the illustrations, created by Natalia Golovanova, onto oak boards. Remember, the mosaic consisted of 3 canvases, each 9 meters high and almost 5.7 meters wide. The canvases were divided on 2 levels of 4.5m each. The height of scaffolding used was also 4.5m. The illustrations were transferred onto the boards with the help of a video projector, and around 4 to 5 hours was required to transfer 1 level (4.5m). The transfer of the illustrations onto boards was organized during the night time;

• assemble the mosaic from wine corks. Not only the outlines of the illustrations were displayed on the oak boards, but also the color coding of the wine corks: 1 (white), 2 (yellow), 3 (dark red), 4 (lilac), 5 (almost black);

• assemble the elements of the mosaic and take measurements for the Guinness World Records in the presence of witnesses and a bailiff;

• mount the mosaic on the metal structure of the “Giant Cask” – we would not have been able to do this without the help of Christophe and his team at Nadalié cooperage, who did their utmost to assist us;

• transport the Cask and place it on the Bordeaux waterfront.