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One Million Giraffes

Ola Helland is a man on a mission – a mission of collecting one million giraffes (giraffe drawings that is!).

Via One Million Giraffes

It’s a project that started out as an idea when I was backpacking through South America in 2009. I love to travel and meet new people, but the problem with meeting new people when I’m out travelling is that there too many new faces and I easily forget them. And that really is a shame. So I got the idea that I would ask everyone I met to draw a giraffe for me, thinking it would be easier to remember them that way.

Even though I gave up this giraffe collecting project I never really let the idea go. And when I was out drinking with my good friend Jørgen on the 6th of June in 2009 I said a sentence that changed my life. We were discussing the internet and how amazing it is, when I said: “There really are no limits anymore. Anything is possible! I could easily collect one million giraffes if I wanted to.” I wasn’t really thinking about what I was saying and Jørgen wouldn’t let that sentence go. He refused to believe it was possible to collect that many giraffes, so we made a bet.

We set a few rules: The giraffes must be hand made and not on a computer. Otherwise it would be too easy. The deadline was set to the 1st of January 2011, giving me a total of 573 days to get this done.

The project has since evolved to something greater than that silly little bet with Jørgen… It has become a way to spread joy and laughter! It really is a lot of fun to sit back and watch all the giraffes coming in from all over the world!

How can you not love an animal that has his feet on the ground and his head among the stars?

At the moment, Helland has received 805,547 giraffes and has 234 days left to reach his target.

You can read more about this project and submit your giraffe drawing here. You can also follow Helland’s blog here.



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