Photo: Marinemine
What if you could have the most unique furniture ever made that was one of a kind? What if this furniture was so special that only few like it were ever made? Even better, what if this furniture could help save the environment or save a life? Prepare yourself to be simply amazed!
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
A rather odd beginning for Marinemine started back in the early 1700s with the Great Northern War between Central and Eastern Europe. The whole thing started over contesting Swedish supremacy.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Fast forward to the beginning of the 20th century when Russia began to modernize the Gulf of Finland and Naissaar Island. These were the areas for which most of the military objects like mines were just lying around, being an environmental hazard.
This is the result you see here.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
The main priority was to do away with all of the land mines, as they were obviously a danger to all. However, WWI interrupted the project. During the war, this island was turned into a secret military base for the Soviet military. Again, the beautiful island was environmentally destroyed by the unlucky location it had in the midst of such powerful nations.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Fortunately, the Soviet army burned all the explosives away from the working mines. However, this was still an unsightly environmental disaster. And, according to this site, there is still an existing field of mines in Mädasadam (nearby) as a sight for tourists to see. Much of the scrap iron was taken to nearby factories to be recycled, but most of it was abandoned and left to rot into the ground.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Enter the best sculptor in Estonia. He is Mati Karmin, who has been successfully sculpting beautiful works of art from unusual sources of materials for 25 years and counting. He was born on February 26, 1959 in Tartu, Estonia.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Karmin graduated in 1986 from Estonian Academy of Arts as a sculptor. Impressively, he is the president of the Estonian Artists Union. He is now a lecturer and a professor at his alma mater.
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
He has had 8 solo exhibitions and 17 group exhibitions. Around the world, there are 15 permanently erected sculptures that he alone created. In 1993, he was awarded the prestigious Kristjan Raud Prize.
Photo: Marinemine
Most of Karmin's furniture pieces are fully functional. Because of their indestructible nature and original purpose, they are also very practical. As you can see in the picture above, two average-size people could fit into this wardrobe.
Photo: Marinemine
Karmin has been photographed, written about in countless newspapers, magazines and films and has bibliographies bestowed to him in his honor. He is absolutely one of the finest talents in the world!
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
Photo: Marinemine
My favorite art piece of his is the toilet. You got to love the ingenuity of making a toilet from a mine shell! To think, indoor plumbing has only been around for several decades. Now, we have toilets made from old mine shells. Who would have ever thought?
To see more of these and other wonderful mine furniture, please go to Marinemine. You will definitely not be disappointed!
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