BBC News 11 February 2021
Janne Pyykkö and a team of 11 volunteers created the snow art over two days in early February
Carved in the snow by thousands of footsteps, a giant web of geometric patterns has appeared on a golf course in Finland, drawing global attention.
The spectacular design in the southern city of Espoo was the work of amateur artist Janne Pyykkö and 11 volunteers.
Measuring 160m (525ft) across, the artwork is thought to be the largest snow drawing ever made in the country.
"I have done small designs before," Mr Pyykkö, an IT consultant for the company CGI, told the BBC. "I wanted to go to the next level, do something more complex than before."
Inspired by his "hero" Simon Beck - a British artist renowned for snow drawings - Mr Pyykkö said he "wanted to create something beautiful" in the thick powder near his home.
First of all, Mr Pyykkö designed the pattern of interlocking shapes on his computer at home.
The drawing consisted of six large snow-flake-style shapes - all slightly different - with a star centrepiece connecting them in the middle.
When he was happy with the design, Mr Pyykkö recruited collaborators from a Finnish snow-shoeing Facebook group.
Mr Pyykkö printed out detailed blueprints for each volunteer to follow, directing them to trace out his design on the snow-covered Löfkulla golf course, near the capital, Helsinki.
To make the patterns, they used rope and wore snowshoes measuring 50cm long and 30cm wide.
Mr Pyykkö said the project was a "social challenge" because he had never organised a group of volunteers to make snow art before.
"I was teaching this way of drawing to the volunteers, I only knew two people in advance," he said.
Despite this, the volunteers managed to execute Mr Pyykkö's instructions with precision on their first attempt.
One volunteer, Elena Ceccarelli, told AFP news agency the group spent "three hours laughing together and walking".
"Any more than that and it would have started to get cold, but Janne [Pyykkö] was very good with the timing," she said.
The artwork was only designed to be temporary, remaining visible for as long as the elements allow.
But excited by the interest his art has generated, Mr Pyykkö said he had further projects in mind.
Next time, though, they may be "a bit smaller", he said.
