Teenager in year-long Rubik’s Cubes fundraising challenge in memory of her uncle

A teenager is creating flags of the world out of Rubik’s Cubes in memory of her uncle who died of a brain tumour.

Mimi Kaufmann, from Finchley, took up the puzzle hobby during lockdown and is now able to solve a Rubik’s cube in 26 seconds.

The 14-year-old is now part-way through a year-long challenge that will see her create 198 flags of the world out of mini Rubik’s Cubes, in aid of the charity Brain Tumour Research.

Mimi said: “Solving Rubik’s Cubes was my hobby and one day I realised I really liked making things out of them. At the time I was memorising all the flags of the world, so I decided to make that my project.

“I was thinking of doing it for charity when my mum suggested I might like to do it in honour of my uncle. He died 10 years ago this October and my mum thought it would be nice for the challenge to coincide with his anniversary, so that’s what I’m doing.”

Mimi’s uncle, David Goldschmidt, was diagnosed with a glioblastoma (GBM) in September 2012 after experiencing problems with his balance and spatial awareness.

The accountant, from Hendon, underwent debulking surgery, radiotherapy, chemotherapy and even travelled to Germany for treatment, but died in October 2013, aged 51.

Mimi’s mum, Aviva Goldschmidt Kaufmann, said: “What happened to my brother was very traumatic, and very difficult because he left behind a wife and three young children; a baby boy and two sons in primary school.

“He was such a fantastic man, a really lovely person, kind, helpful, and very well loved. He found it hard to get his head around what was happening to him.”

Mimi was taught how to use a Rubik’s cube – which has 43 quintillion combinations – by her 19-year-old brother, Joel, who is also a fan of the puzzle.

She took to it quickly and has now created 79 flags from it.

The Haberdashers’ Girls’ School pupil, whose videos can be found using the YouTube handle @MimickCubes, said: “The way I got the motivation to solve a Rubik’s cube is by really wanting to play Minecraft. My parents said if I could solve it, then I could play the game, so I solved it as quickly as I could.”

She added: “I started by solving a bunch of different cubes, 2x2s, pyramids and all sorts of others. Then my brother went to Israel and bought 144 mini Rubik’s Cubes.

“He came home and made cube art and, when I said I wanted to try it, he handed them over, which is when I started making flags. I use a mosaic generator to convert flag pictures to pixels, which I can then recreate using cubes.

“The first flag I made was British, on the day the Queen died. My last one was Ireland and I’m just finishing Israel. I had to miss out Estonia because I’m stuck with the colours of a Rubik’s cube, so don’t have black.

“I destroy them to make another but I take photos and videos of them all.”

Aviva, 52, said: “Mimi has a good problem-solving mind. She also plays chess so she’s good at this sort of thing.”

Mimi is aiming to raise at least £2,740, which is enough to sponsor a day of research at one of the charity’s four Centres of Excellence.

“I think I’d feel really accomplished if I did that,” she said.

Aviva added: “I know someone whose father had a GBM 25 years before David and there really hasn’t been any breakthroughs in treating the disease since then. That’s why I’m so keen to support Brain Tumour Research.

“Knowing there’s so little that can be done for brain tumours is frustrating considering the advances that have been made in medicine for other cancers. We need to wipe out this horrible disease.”

To support Mimi’s fundraising, visit www.justgiving.com/fundraising/mimi-kaufmann