If you’ve ever been to Paris, you’ll probably have spent your entire trip walking around with a pocket stuffed full of Métro tickets.
Those distinctive little pieces of Parisian card are great for getting around the city, but they’re notoriously single use – so, what to do with them once they’re spent?
Enter Parisian 3D graphic artists, Noname Collective.
Noname Collective is a 3D digital agency based in Paris, founded in 2014 by freelance art directors Loïc Bail and Thomas Milvaux. As something of a side project, they’ve created this incredibly intricate 3D diorama made entirely of discarded Paris Métro tickets – and it is trés UNBELIEVABLE.
Their model is based on RATP’s distinctive rubber-tired MP73 stock of Paris Métro Line 6, which runs from Charles de Gaulle – Étoile in the west all the way across the south of the city, to Nation in the east.
The MP73 stock running on Line 6 runs in 5 car sets. A total of 252 cars were built, delivered in 1974 and refurbished in 2000. They’ve faithfully served Line 6 for their entire existence (apart from one vagrant four-car set, which resides on Line 11).
Noname Collective’s model is incredibly faithful to the real thing – they’ve even picked out the 750V DC electrical pickups on the guide bars, sitting alongside those distinctively chunky rubber tires. Cheeky little touches complete the diorama – look out for the RATPigeon, looking down at the workers bringing yet more tickets over to be added to the model.
It’s a stunning lesson in intricate creativity and discipline, especially given that most people (us here at TD most definitely included) can barely build a two-storey pyramid with a deck of playing cards.
Sadly, it turns out that the model isn’t actually a real model just yet. It’s a 3D render, but still, it just goes to show that one man’s trash really is another man’s treasure!
Have you spotted any more creative uses for old rail tickets? Let us know in the comments, or tweet us @transportdsn.
Images courtesy of Noname Collective.