This Italian Speedcuber Makes Rubik’s Cube Even More Challenging!

It is a given that anyone who was there in the era of Rubik’s Cube popularity has tried his or her hand at this frustrating, yet challenging puzzle with varying degrees of success. Today, for all intents and purposes, solving Rubik’s Cube is passé, even for the one who’s been a world record holder a multiple time.

His name is Giovanni Contardi. This 24-year-old ‘Speedcuber’ – a term used for those who solve Rubik’s Cube at lightning speeds – originally hails from Pesaro, Italy but had moved to Australia four years ago, where he’s now settled. He’s a coffee professional and works as a coffee roaster in Melbourne.

Not for nothing has Contardi been declared the national, European and world champ on a number of occasions. When asked how all this came about, he says, “I learned how to solve a Rubik’s cube from a friend in my first year of high school. I then started competing in ‘Speedcubing’ events and I was Italian champion for five years, had three different world records and various podiums at European and World Championships.” Of course, his official results can be easily checked on WCA website.

Contardi has been there, done that. Now he has figured out newer ways to use Rubik’s Cube, not one cube, but hundreds of them. His latest passion is forming portraits with the help of cubes!

For this, he first arranges a large number of cubes on a platform, much like a canvas. He then selects the right colours on the visible surface of the cubes, much like pixels, and forms the portrait.

This certainly is no mean feat, as it requires brains to figure out what colours will correctly depict the play light and shadow on the portrait’s face, as well as expressions. For this, he takes the help of actual photographs and reproduces them in exact likeness on the cubes’ surface.

This tremendous feat of this world champ has certainly not gone unnoticed. On Instagram alone, he enjoys a following of over 14,000 fans.

More Info: Instagram