14 DAY TRIAL // After commissioning a bronze statue of Steve Jobs earlier this month, Graphisoft officially unveiled the work of sculptor Erno Toth yesterday, Dec 21, 2011, at the architectural software maker’s Budapest headquarters.
Graphisoft Founder and Chairman of the Board, Gabor Bojar wanted his company to be the first in the world honoring the late Apple co-founder with a statue.
So he hired Hungarian sculptor Erno Toth to make a life-like bronze statue of him. The bronze-crafted tribute can now be seen at the entrance of Graphisoft’s Budapest headquarters.
According to the official announcement from Graphisoft, the relationship between the architectural software maker and Apple started around three decades ago, “when Jobs came across the first version of Graphisoft’s ArchiCAD software at the 1984 CeBIT in Germany.”
The company’s CEO recalls how Jobs was so taken with ArchiCAD that he immediately threw Apple’s support behind the development and distribution of the software.
“Apple’s support included cash and computers at a time when Graphisoft was a small company with limited resources, working within the economic and political confines of what was, at the time, communist Hungary,” Gabor Bojar said.
Not only that, but Apple also introduced the architectural software makers to their worldwide distribution network, “which remains a cornerstone of the business today,” according to the report.
“With its attention to excellence in every detail, Graphisoft Park’s environment embodies the spirit of Steve Jobs,” Viktor Varkonyi, CEO of Graphisoft said. “I can’t think of a better place to commemorate the man and his legacy,” he continued.
Editor’s note While the tribute is great and all, one can’t help but notice that the statue looks almost nothing like the living, breathing Steve Jobs we once knew. Apart from the trademark John Lennon-style glasses and (maybe) the keynote-presentation posture, the statue doesn’t seem to bear any real resemblance to the actual Apple co-founder. Then again, maybe it’s the angle it was shot from.