Teen engineering prodigy builds Eiffel Tower replica from toothpicks

A teen from Naperville, Illinois, United States with a passion for engineering spent months building a 17-feet-tall tower made entirely out of toothpicks and glue. 

The world’s tallest toothpick sculpture reached the impressive height of 5.28 m (17.32 ft) and its shape was inspired by the Eiffel tower, with a slim body and strong base.

Eric Klabel, the engineering prodigy behind the project, used to hold the record for the tallest ice lolly (popsicle) stick structure in 2020, and a few months ago he decided to set himself a new challenge.

“I wanted to break this record mainly because of how much fun I had breaking the record for the tallest popsicle stick structure when I was younger,” he told us.

“I kind of just wanted to do the same thing but with a harder material, and I learned that toothpicks were tinier and not as strong, so it would definitely be a harder challenge to work with.

“So I started experimenting with my own toothpick sculptures to just kind of get a feel for toothpicks. Eventually, I started on my toothpick tower journey.”

The high school student with a strong enthusiasm for STEM took us through the process step by step.

“What I would do first is to create long chains of toothpicks […] by gluing them together,” he explained.

“The bottom four legs of the tower are all 8 ft long, and then I made more of them as I go up, so that’s pretty much how I built it.”

And he certainly knew what he was doing, since this wasn’t his first record-breaking build.

“The first time over gave me a lot of experience in time management,” he said. “It wasn’t just a tiny little project, but something that actually took a couple months.”

The tower was created in parts in his house and then assembled outside for a public viewing event in Naperville.

Although Eric led the project and did most of the work, he appreciated the help from his family, especially during parts that needed two people.

Read about more record-breaking creations in our Hobbies and Skills section.

Having spent a lot of his free time focusing on this venture, Eric admitted that the process was anything but easy.

“Physically, my back hurt so much. It was really weird because for such a long time I was just hunched over doing this, non-stop. I don’t know if my posture was bad the entire time, but for some reason my back just started aching.”

But despite the difficulties he faced, he says he’s glad he took on the challenge and is proud of the result. 

“Lowkey, it was just a fun experience. It was just really fun, I got to build something that was super super tall and super super strong.”

Since the record title for the tallest popsicle stick structure no longer belongs to Eric, he has begun to wonder about the fate of his newest title.

“Honestly, I’m not really sure how long this record will stand,” he said.

“Obviously, if someone takes their time to actually break this record and takes the time to glue all of those toothpicks together, kudos to them. I’m very proud of them, they’re willing to put in the work and energy to do that, so they definitely deserve it.

“So if my record does get broken, that’s perfectly okay, I respect the person who breaks it.”

Ultimately, he hopes his accomplishment will motivate others rather than spark competition: “I hope to inspire other kids who want to venture in a STEM career.”

Congratulations, Eric, you are Officially Amazing!