Meet the 19-year-old CEO of Varuna, a professional Minecraft design studio
It's amazing to think there is actually such a thing as pro Minecraft-builders—teams of designers who get paid to create intricate worlds from a bunch of virtual blocks. Varuna is one such team. Here's the story of how its 19-year-old CEO created the company, and how it continues to flourish to this day...
Varuna is run by its 19-year-old CEO, Thomas Sulikowski. He heard about the Minecraft building community in high school, then gained widespread attention after posting images of his creations on forums.
It speaks to Minecraft's ludicrous popularity that entire firms can spring up to cater for players' building needs. Varuna has grown into a business that employs 34 people from 12 countries.
Rates start at $999 on Varuna's commissioning page, but fees can balloon based on a project's scale. The company has even taken on epic city builds that rose above $10k.
The company creates a huge variety of builds, from fantasy kingdoms to futuristic cityscapes. Varuna regularly takes on work from private clients, companies and charity organizations, like Block by Block.
A vast amount of labor goes into making these blocky creations. Such is the incredible level of detail Varuna pours into builds, a single world can suck up hundreds of man-hours.
To read our interview with Varuna's CEO, head to...