A mirror image of Burj Al Arab

He is a 30-year-old who switched professions – from being an electronic technician for seven years to turning an entrepreneur in the glass industry seven months ago.

In addition to knowing the inside out of the industry, he has learnt something more about glass, mirrors to be precise.

Khujema F. Morawala has built a model of the Burj Al Arab using mirrors, of course.

The resemblance of the two-and-a-half foot miniature Burj Al Arab made of 3mm mirror fragments to the original is uncanny. Constructed from hundreds of individual strips of mirror, some just a few millimetres in width, the piece of work is impressive.

"I don't want to sell this. My objective is not to earn money, but I just want a chance to present this to General Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, Crown Prince of Dubai and UAE Defence Minister," says Khujema F. Morawala.

As Morawala demonstrates how he created the curves and the perfect alignment of the glass building with the aid of a diamond cutter and a Bison Kit, it looks easy, but in reality, cutting tiny strips of glass exactly the same size takes more muscle and concentration than is apparent.

"There should be confidence and stamina," he says as he cuts the glass strips into perfect 5mm pieces with fluid yet perfect strokes.

Morawala first thought of creating a miniature Burj Al Arab out of mirror when he was working at the Palm resort. "I glanced out and saw the Burj across the water, and I knew I had to create it," he says. Whittling away at pieces of mirror during his spare time, it took him four months and many adjustments to get it right.

"It was very hard work," he says. "First I sketched it from photographs and made so many tiny alterations to it before it was complete. Every time I added a new feature or made an alteration, I would ask someone for their opinion, and I always got one. Someone would always say, change this a little, shift this bit or elevate it a bit more – and then one day, there was no more advice, and I knew it was perfect," he says.

"I would go once in a way and sit in front of the real Burj Al Arab and mentally compare it with my version. It was lot of hard work. The most difficult part was the middle part of the building. It took me months just to decide on the material to use in the background, and I changed the helipad three times before I got it right. First it was too big, and then it was too small," he laughs.

"I want to show that a person can do anything if he puts his mind to it. When I switched to glasswork, there were discouraging noises from everywhere because when I got into this field I didn't know anything about glass – not even the different measurements of glass.

"I want to show that nothing is impossible. I believe in hard work. Through hard work you can master anything."