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Designer
of puzzles and specialist of the
Hedgehog in a cage puzzle.
Life
Radek Micopulos graduated from the Secondary School of Industry in Trutnov
with a degree in toolmaking and business (2002-2007). From 2010 to 2015 he
worked in two engineering companies, where he gained a lot of additional
experience in engineering production.
Since 2005, he has been reviving Ježek in a cage and its forgotten variants,
such as Ježival in a cage. In 2012, he invented a new type of Hedgehog GEN,
with which he won the Puzzle of the Year Award. He is the creator of the
Bearing Hedgehog, AXIS and the ORIGINAL Hedgehog, which is the most
authentic form of this famous puzzle to date. The author continues to expand
the history of the puzzle and has also tracked down the very ancestor of our
19th century Hedgehog from the USA.
Radek Micopulos designs both traditional and modern hedgehogs in a cage,
further developing the principle and design of this puzzle. Since 2018 he
has been designing other unusual puzzles such as HEXAHOG. The latter
combines two types of puzzles. The HEXA cage with the principle of a
removable puzzle and the HEXXA cage - a three-dimensional folding puzzle.
Another is the Hedgehog in the EPIC cage, which has a very unusual "open"
shape of three expanding spirals and a hedgehog with a drop-shaped ball. In
2020, he invented the NEMO puzzle - a multi-tasking puzzle that also
requires the use of the internet and searching for hidden clues to progress.
He has approximately 180 different Hedgehogs in a Cage in his collection.
Since the beginning of 2017, he has been building the Jaroslav Foglar Museum
at Ledeč nad Sázavou Castle with Fast Arrows cartoonist Milan Teslevič.
There is a collection of Hedgehogs in a cage in an original display case,
which he designed and made and is, with exaggeration, the largest Hedgehog
in a cage ever made. It is 2.4 m high, has a hexagonal base 70 cm wide and
the light inside is the hedgehog itself with spines.
In 2021 he made the Hedgehog in a Cage based on a new illustration of the
puzzle from the Shadow trilogy. In collaboration with the painter Jiří
Grus, he materialized this model exactly according to his drawings.
Historically, this is the first collaboration between a contemporary
illustrator and a modern designer of this puzzle.
For the Czech EU Presidency in 2022, he designed a hedgehog in a cage in the
colours of the Czech tricolour with a heraldic representation of the Czech
Lion and the inscription Czech republic. In the past, he has already
produced variously modified Hedgehogs in a Cage. For example, a green and
white model for the ŠKODA AUTO car company, bright yellow balls (like a
tennis ball) in a white cage for the FedCup finals (2014) and DavisCup
(2015).
At the end of 2022, a new puzzle Hedgehog in a Cage MYSTIC was created,
inspired by the oldest known Hedgehog in a Cage from the 19th century. This
Hedgehog hides a unique secret in the unscrewable ball about how this
legendary puzzle actually came to be.
Foreign cooperation
Since 2022, Radek Micopulos has also established cooperation with foreign
authors. One of them is James Stanley from Great Britain and another one is
Douglas Menzies from New Zealand with whom he has created puzzles called
Demonticon.
www.demonticon.com
Puzzle
models
2009 - Hedgehog in a cage KLASIK
2010 - Hedgehog in a cage '66
2012 - Hedgehog in a cage BEARING
2012 - Hedgehog in a cage GEN
2013 - Hedgehog in a Cage ORIGINAL
2015 - Hedgehog in a Cage
2016 - Hedgehog in a cage AXIS
2016 - Hedgehog in a cage CLASSIC
2017 - Hedgehog in a cage RETRO
2018 - HEXAHOG puzzle
2019 - Hedgehog in the Cage EPIC
2019 - Hedgehog in a cage FANTOM
2020 - NEMO puzzle
2021 - Hedgehog in a cage GEN IN BLACK
2021 - Hedgehog in a cage ANTIQ
2021 - Hedgehog in a cage RIVAL
2021 - Hedgehog in a cage NOVEL
2022 - Hedgehog in a cage PATRIOT - Czech EU Presidency 2022
2022 - AMULET puzzle - foreign cooperation with James Stanley (GB)
2022 - ZIGGY puzzle *
2022 - Hedgehog in a cage MYSTIC
2023 - Hedgehog in the cage IDEAL
2023 - STELLA puzzle *
2023 - ZAK puzzle *
2023 - Hedgehog in a cage CLASSIC screwable
2024 - SCARLETT puzzle *
2024 - Hedgehog in a cage MAX
2024 - SHELLY puzzle *
2024 - ZODIAC puzzle *
2025 - Hedgehog in a cage MAGIC
2025 - Hedgehog in a cage MAGIC 2
* foreign cooperation with Douglas Menzies (NZ)
Other variants
In addition to the basic models, many other material variants have been
developed - different coloured anodised or coated duralumin, steel,
stainless steel and brass.
Artwork
Radek Micopulos is also involved in the design and artistic creation of
commemorative objects. Since 2018 he has been creating unofficial postage
stamps in symbolic values such as 1 Ginkgo, 3 - Brotherhood of the Cat's
Claw, 5 - Quick Arrows. He has also created the first ever Shadows coat of
arms in the form of an embossed metal plate. The coat of arms colored in
black silhouettes of curving streets and the yellow symbols of the Shadows -
crossed yellow pins and a yellow flower. A commemorative medal made of "new
silver" was issued with this motif.
Custom production
Radek Micopulos has been designing and producing special commissions since
2017. These are mainly atypical display cases for the Jaroslav Foglar Museum
and other items.
www.antsinpants.cz
Articles and interviews by the author
owerview here
source:
wikipedia.org
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