Posts from — January 2008

Great idea for the selfish in us. Inspired by a transparent bag used to collect rubbish, Jamie Wieck created a pair of carrier bags that quite literally ‘carry’ your shopping.

Jamie is a graphic designer and illustrator based in London.

Via The Style Files

Technorati Tags: carrier bags, ideas, Jamie Wieck, products

Artist Frankie Flood’s exhibition at the Museum of Wisconsin Art includes five pizza cutters resembling motorcycles and bearing funky names like Psycho Pizza Cadillac.

He has garnered well deserved attention for the ability of these items to show that “even the most utilitarian object has strong artistic value.”

I think these look pretty impressive and eye-catching – to the degree that pointing one of these will scare any victim or house intruder. They won’t know if you’ll shoot them or slice them up!

Via PopGadget

Technorati Tags: Frankie Flood, pizz cutters, products

Hubcap Creatures are animal sculptures made from hubcaps found on the side of the road, along with other recycled materials.

Although the materials are “second-hand” the designs certainly aren’t, looking quite slick instead. The creator states “marks add texture and history to the creatures they decorate, and so choose not to fill, overpaint or alter them in any way.”

They sell for about $250 – $975 each although you can commission a piece to be made.

Find out more on HubCapCreatures.com

Via Uncrate

Technorati Tags: crafts, design, hubcap creatures, models, sculpture

These desktop speakers make for eye catching double takes! Proof that scale can create a new idea, or in this case, a new product.

Via Swiss Miss

Technorati Tags: giant earbuds, music, products, speakers

Tree houses are buildings constructed among the branches or next to the trunk of one or more mature trees, and are raised above the ground.

Tree houses can be built for recreation or permanent habitation. As a kid, its the sort of thing you’d love to have but rarely have the knowledge, practicality and persistence to create a decent, secure example, let alone one which has been uniquely designed.

Well, the FreshHome blog has posted the 8 of the most amazing tree houses ever built. I posted the Japanese examples on my other site OneInchPunch.net, but this one below is a rather funky design, which sticks out in a forest, but to my mind still works.

This tree house is called a ‘Free Spirit Sphere’ and is designed by Tom Chudleigh. Its an eco-friendly living quarter that was created to co-exist unobtrusively with its forest environment.

Wooden spheres are built much like a cedar strip canoe or kayak, suspension points are similar to the chain plate attachments on a sailboat and the stairways hang from a tree much like a sailboats shrouds hang from the mast.

See more of the Top 8 Most Amazing Tree Houses

Via Neatorama

Technorati Tags: crafts, design, tree houses

Terry Border’s Bent Object blog is a collection of things that he makes. What makes his craft stand out is that he makes simple yet highly creative sculptures out of bent wires.

The really nice thing is that you could easily be inspired by the technique he uses and create your own scenario sculptures at home, using similar nails, wires and other common household objects.

Check out the Bent Objects blog and get creative!

Via Neatorama

Technorati Tags: Bent Objects, bent wire

If you like Lego, you’ll love the Brothers Brick Lego block, which touts contributions featuring interesting and unique, fun Lego creations.

I’ve featured Lego here before (Iron Man lego) and although I’m not fanatical about the brand, interesting Lego models do catch my eye, especially if they’re not too “Lego-like”.

Licenses also get my attention and there’s a crop of models currently being released for the forthcoming new Indiana Jones film.

This one below is quite an impressive diorama, displaying the temple escape from the beginning of The Raiders of the Lost Ark.

For more Lego creations, check out The Brothers Brick blog

The Indy diorama was discovered on Gizmodo

Via NotCot

Technorati Tags: Brothers Brick, Lego, models, popular culture

Sometimes, you get an idea for creating something – a simple idea (which are almost always the best) and wonder how it could turn out. As they say with business, 99% of people will get an idea for something, but only 1% will actually go out and do something about it.

Anyway, here, photographer Carl Warner takes a simple idea – create landscapes using food – and has produced these amazing foodscapes.

The small size shown here don’t really do them justice, as these are filled with detail, creatively using different kinds of food to portray different elements in the landscape.

I particularly like this shot of the sun near the horizon. I mean, look at the use of salmon for the water – ingenious!

There are more shots below, but I highly recommend visiting Carl’s website where you can find larger versions of these foodscapes to pore over.

Visit CarlWarner.com
This is a Flash website which fills the screen, but once you get there, click on the second/orange box, and then the second folder on the lower left-hand side titled “foodscapes”.

Via Neatorama

Technorati Tags: Carl Warner, foodscapes, landscapes with food, photography

These bio-mechanical machines are really up my street. They feature in a cultural exhibit built in a former shipyard in the French city of Nantes.

I love the combination of materials used to give the natural leathery texture of elephant skin, and the soft sheets for its flapping ears. Being able to see the mechanical parts might in some way be due to the practicality of the engineering design, but at the same time, this adds to the style of these works.

The character of these creatures just seems to be brought to life amazingly well, and the whole package with the combination of nature, mechanics and the ability to ride them, just works!

They remind me of Feric’s illustrations brought to life, or some creations out of anime films by Studio Ghibli.

It must have taken quite a vision to conceive these ideas, but most of all to bring together a budget to make these exhibits a reality.

See more photos of The Machines of the Isle of Nantes

See the elephant in motion below

See a video of the squid being operated

Via Wired.com

Technorati Tags: biomechanical, design, elephant, ideas, Isle of Nantes, models, squid

Now, this is just amazing. Who knows whether this artist/craftsman has specialist tools to craft these designs on an eggshell, but the skill and creativity is obvious from the shells themselves.

How are these designs marked out so geometrically accurate? Or is this just the artistic skill in process?

Even more baffling, how are the holes and negative spaces punched out without breaking the already fragile shells? Are they treated somehow?

And I wonder whether countless hours of intense, detailed work has often been destroyed whilst this artist has been “learning” the trade, by a careless slip, or a little too much pressure.

I guess when a craft is intriguing and baffling to understand the “how”, it just makes it all the more interesting and admirable.

Via Piclicious

Technorati Tags: arts, crafts, eggshell, ideas