If you grew up in the 1980s, you may remember Super Mario Brothers 3 as being an amazing game for the Nintendo Entertainment system. Combining elements of previous Mario games with the more strategic map layout always seemed to me like one of the most ingenious parts. Kjetil Nordin decided to take his love of this game to the next level with a beautiful crocheted Super Mario rug that took 800 hours over the course of 6½ years to make.
Nordin learned the basics of crocheting in Norway while attending a school where he was signed up for a sports program. Apparently there was much to learn there outside of the normal lesson plan, as he was taught this art form by a girl in the wildlife program.
Years later, in 2008, he tried out for the national skydiving team in Norway and found that physical training was a weakness of his. He found it frustrating because if you’re not able to practice for whatever reason, you have to start over almost from the beginning. After not making the cut that year, he decided to work on a few pot holders that he had started years earlier but never finished. Being able to work on something intermittently like that instead of constant training, Nordin decided that he could take on an ambitious crocheting project, since it would still be there if he lost motivation from time to time.
He had made smaller pixelated video game projects before, and Mario 3 was one of his favorite games, with a resolution that fit this kind of art form well. This particular rug is based on a “reimagined, Super Nintendo version of super Mario Bros 3, first world map” according to Nordin, and pictures of it can be seen below.
If you’re wondering if another rug is on the horizon, Nordin, now a Danish resident, is now preparing to compete in the Danish skydiving championship, and doesn’t see himself taking on another epic rug project right now. Additionally, he did end up making the Norwegian national team in 2010, and won two different types of formation flying events in his country, one in 2009, and the other in 2014.
[via Reddit, NRK, and Eirin Larsen]
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