Sharjah: Russian miniature artist Salavat Fidai artist has a point to make, literally. He is in town at the Sharjah International Book Fair (SIBF) to demonstrate his skill in carving tiny sculptures on pencil tips.
The 42-year-old’s live demonstrations of his creations are a big hit at SIBF, whose theme posters this year carry pictures of his artwork — a falcon, light bulb, camera, puzzle piece and a library — all on the graphite head of regular pencils.
Ahmed Ramzan/Gulf News Salavat Fidai uses a sharp blade and a magnifying instrument to intricately shape a pencil.
The posters have gone on display on banners on major roads in Sharjah and Dubai as part of SIBF’s advertising campaign.
Fidai, from Ufa city in Russia, is at SIBF till November 5 and visitors can buy the sculpture-tipped pencils for around $1,000 (about Dh3,670) to around $10,000 (about Dh36,700). Prices vary according to the uniqueness and difficulty involved in creating the tiny shapes.
Fidai quietly shaves off the pencil tips — milligrams at a time — at his stand in the central corridor at SIBF. Some of them take a few hours to make, while the highly intricate and detailed ones can take up to a week, he told Gulf News.
He uses just a sharp blade and a magnifying instrument to accomplish the feat. Fidai has made a model of Dubai’s Burj Khalifa, the world’s tallest tower, and the Eiffel Tower in Paris.
“They were tough to make because of the level of detail involved,” he said, adding “it feels good” to see his work gaining so much attention in Sharjah and Dubai.
