Derek’s Amazing Cigarette Packet Animals

Derek started making animals 2 or 3 years ago after being shown how to make dogs by his father. The animals he has made range from parrots, an elephant, a kangaroo complete with joey, a 5ft tall giraffe a 12ft python and an almost life sized gorilla.

Not only has Derek made a number of different animals from cigarette packets but they are big. The reason some of Derek’s animals are so big is because some local people collecting empty packets for him and a majority of them were 20s packets. (1)

Man who can turn a packet of Camels into a giraffe…

A dad of one has become a master model-maker – building animals out of discarded fag packets. Derek Fitton, 46, cuts up the boxes he finds in the street and weaves the cardboard strips into three-dimensional beasts.

His biggest so far is a 5ft 3in giraffe but since learning the technique from his dad he has turned hundreds of boxes into an array of animals.

Derek, from Hyde in Tameside, said: “I’ve got dogs, a couple of lions, a kangaroo, a big giraffe and I’m currently working on a gorilla that’s going to be as big as me.

“I couldn’t even guess how many cigarette packets have gone into them.

“How long they take to make depends on how long it takes me to collect enough boxes.”

Unemployed Derek, who only smokes roll-ups, collects the packets while out walking his dog. He tries to go as early as possible, before street cleaners come out, and regularly collects up to 50 packets in half an hour.

Derek, of Chapel Court, cuts the top and bottom off the boxes and flattens them.

He cuts the card into strips, which he weaves into squares. The squares are then transformed into animals without any glue or tape.

Derek’s dad, Eric, pioneered the technique in the 1960s, making little dogs.

A cousin told Derek the story and inspired him to have a go. He said: “I do sometimes think about the effect on the environment. I’ve got that many plastic bags full of boxes and that’s just the start of what’s out there.

“If I wasn’t turning them into animals, they’d have to go somewhere.” (2)