Daytona Beach, Fla. – Costa Sunglasses made a splash when it unveiled images of one-of-a-kind, hand built fish sculptures of a tarpon, blue marlin and bass built entirely out of its own sunglass parts in an advertising campaign last year. Now, two of these sculptures have found new homes with some worthy organizations.
Costa donated its tarpon fish sculpture to the International Game Fish Association (IGFA) to be put on display inside its Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum. First opened in January 1999, the IGFA Fishing Hall of Fame & Museum attracts 75,000 guests each year who come to view one of the largest repositories of sport fishing history. In addition to full-scale casts of world record catches in the Greats Hall, interactive fishing simulators in the Catch Gallery and hundreds of epic historical photographs, the IGFA’s headquarters is also filled with an impressive collection of permanent artwork – including the newest piece from Costa.
The blue marlin sculpture has been donated to The Billfish Foundation (TBF), a longtime Costa partner. The organization plans to showcase the sculpture from February 16 – 20 in its booth at the 2012 Miami Boat Show. Following the show, TBF will promote the sculpture online and at various events throughout the year before auctioning it off at their Annual Tag & Release Awards Ceremony in February 2013. All proceeds will benefit billfish conservation efforts.
A mix of lenses, hinges, frame arms, nose pads, side shields and retainer cord segments from hundreds of Costa sunglasses went into building the mounted fish sculptures. Each fish was built using the sunglass lens color and frame technology necessary to catch the particular species.
“The response to these fish sculptures has been incredible,” said Al Perkinson, vice president of marketing for Costa Sunglasses. “We wanted them to belong to organizations like IGFA and TBF that are doing great things in the name of preserving angling heritage and promoting sustainable sport fishing.”
The blue marlin model glows with dozens of Costa’s 580™ blue mirror lenses as scales and silver and black frame arms as fins. Side shields and retainer cords add realistic detail to the billfish body.
“Seeing the intricate level of detail and knowing there’s only one of Costa’s blue marlin fish sculpture in the world – it’s truly a priceless work of art,” said Ellen Peel, executive director of TBF. “It’ll be one of the main attractions in our booth at the Miami Boat Show and will help raise awareness of some of the important work we’re doing this year.”
For the tarpon sculpture, more than 150 Costa 580™ silver mirror and gray lenses were used to illustrate the scales. The fish also features frame arms to shape the fins and mouth, with a Costa ‘C’ logo accentuating its eye.
“Our museum is home to angling artifacts and art you can’t see anywhere else,” said Mike Myatt, Chief Operating Officer of IGFA. “The Costa tarpon sculpture will fit right in and serve as a great addition to our collection.”
Costa plans to produce and release new sculptures featuring additional fish species later this year.
