October 5, 2012, marks one year since the sad passing of late Apple co-founder Steve Jobs. The tributes will be myriad without a doubt. Kicking them all off is Madame Tussauds of Hong Kong.
Its finished wax figure took three months for a team of sculptors, color and hair artists to create, totaling some HK $1,500,000 to build. It sure is an eerie lookalike. I’ve met Jobs several times over the years and the image is startling. Check it out below — along with the figure’s lead visionary and creator, Chan Yik Hei.
As you can see above, the figure is displayed in Jobs’ trademark wardrobe of a black turtleneck sweater. In full, the wax figure also is wearing his signature Levi jeans and running shoes, reps say. His arms are folded, his head is tilted slightly and he appears to be smiling.
I saw Jobs smile a few times with my former boss, his best friend Oracle CEO Larry Ellison. This Steve Jobs wax figure is a good likeness. Even the glasses Jobs wore in the latter years of his short life are perfectly reproduced.
Apple or Jobs’ family as yet is not fighting the creation and touring of the Jobs figure, according to our English translation of the Madame Tussauds Chinese language site.
This is opposed to another Asian firm’s action figures, controversially released just after Jobs’ death by its maker, on eBay. Apple and Jobs’ family worked hard to take those off the market, as aNewDomain.net reported first last year.
So how did they do it? According to an English translation of the Chinese site:
The techniques used to create the figure (employed) the same tools and methods first employed by Madame Tussaud herself over two hundred years ago. The sculptors have anatomical knowledge to ensure every bone, muscle and tendon is replicated correctly according to the pose.
When the clay sculpture is formed, each strand of hair is inserted one by one into the wax head by hand using a forked needle. Once complete, the hair is washed, cut and styled. Moreover, each iris is hand painted … and veining is added to the whites of the eyes with fine silk threads.
On the site, Chan Yik Hei said (translated), he was “amazed” by his first virtual meeting with Jobs. “It is my great honor to be the first in Hong Kong to pay tribute” to Jobs, he said. “I will never forget the excitement and nervousness when (Jobs and Chan first looked) at each other, he said.
Kelly Mak, General Manager of Madame Tussauds of Hong Kong, expressed delight at the wax figure of Jobs and its display. “He has inspired and influenced millions of people and undoubtedly deserves a place here. We are happy to give the public the opportunity to pay tribute to somebody who has helped shape their world.”
Are you in the area? Reps say the figure is installed at Madame Tussauds in Hong Kong until November 26, 2012. It will then travel to the Madame Tussauds Wax Museum in Bangkok and, after that, to Madame Tussauds in Shanghai.
In case you’re curious, here is what the controversial Steve Jobs action figure looked like on eBay late last year and early this year.
