All Entries in the "Art" Category

The Great JJ Supersizes The Architect Lamp

The architect lamp is iconic.  The Great JJ Lamp, which borrows the design of Jac Jacobsen’s enduring classic and supersizes it, is gigantic.  Measuring 14 feet tall, you’ll need an equally humongous desk to actually fit it in.
Designed by Centro Stile, the blown-up lighting furniture should work best as either a floor or an outdoor lamp.  Forget lighting up a drafting table – this thing can illuminate an entire street corner.  Intended for show, rather than actual utility, it’s definitely one way to render your front yard unique.
Just in case you’re curious, the L-1 architect lamp was originally designed back in 1937 and remains a nostalgic favorite in some drafting tables to this day.    This over-scaled version copies that exact same classic, merely changing it up by stretching the dimensions, which makes it perfect if you’re planning to draw the life-size blueprints for a house (why you’d do that, we [...]

Want To Make Your Own Wicked-Looking Mechanical Wooden Clock?

You see that complicated mass of gears and other mechanical components?  That’s supposed to be a clock – the Celestial Mechanical Calendar and Orrery, to be exact.  And according to its creator, Clayton Boyer, you don’t have to buy it to own one.  You can make an exact replica all by yourself.
Yes, the crafty woodworker behind some of the most amazing wooden clocks ever built is selling plans for many of his designs, expecting interested individuals like yourself to actually build one.   He’s incredibly optimistic about it, too, claiming that you can construct a piece with even the lowest skill level, provided you’re willing to persevere, as well as shell out for the tools and materials, of course.

The clock design plans include full-size drawings for all the major parts.  Made to size, you can simply scissor off the designs, glue it to your wood and saw off the edges.  No [...]

Robosteel’s Eight-Foot Alien Queen Replica Puts the Mother Xenomorph On Your Living Room

Got a friend who believes in monsters and aliens?  Scare the living crap out of them with Robosteel’s Alien Queen, a towering 8-foot replica of the scary Xenomorph that commands the rest of those giant alien drones.
Taller than Yao Ming and scarier than a rabid pitbull, the all-metal sculpture is as horrific as the Mother Alien it was based from.  You know, that same beastly creature with a large crest on her head that relentlessly pursued poor Ellen Ripley in an all-consuming, murderous rage.  Lovely.

The Alien Queen is made from junk steel parts taken from old cars, boats, motorcycles and various home appliances.  Each of the 4,000+ components was craftily welded to turn out an all-metal version of the nurturing monster that should break your bathroom scale with its hefty 1,213-pound frame.
Despite looking like your worst nightmare and then some, it’s just an inanimate sculpture, so you don’t have to [...]

Mandles: Because Relaxing Candles Can Soothe Tired Men Too

Men don’t use candles unless there’s a power outage.  Never mind the fact that it can change a room’s ambience with little effort – we don’t need it.  If we want to influence a room’s atmosphere, we’ll either spray an air freshener or we’ll just fart, thank you very much.
Gross bodily functions aside, don’t think it’s beyond your manly sensibilities to appreciate a good scented candle. Especially when the olfactory pleasures are made especially for men’s tastes and the candles are hoisted inside recycled beer bottles like the Mandle.  Yep, it’s the kind of candle even the least-cultured caveman can appreciate.  Okay, maybe just slightly more cultured than the lowest common denominator.

Created by Koi Kouture. the “man-candles” use 22-oz beer bottles from Rogue Brewery as candle holders, filling the room with an aroma that they claim will appeal to the less-prettier sex.   With fragrances such as Hippie Girlfriend From College [...]

Couch Potato Groom Figurine Shows The Bride How The Fairytale Ends

Can’t believe your little sister is marrying that lazy slacker from down the block?  Wedding cake topper turns “wedding stopper” with the Couch Potato Groom Figurine, which realistically depicts what’s actually going to happen after her wedding is through.
Retailer Things Festive thinks this is supposed to make the “forever on his ass” groom laugh at his own folly.  Seriously, the dude already knows what’s going down after they move in to that new apartment – he’s going to plop down on the sofa and play Modern Warfare till his fingers bleed.  Maybe take a break, too, when they show the Jersey Shore marathon on MTV.  Super fist pump, baby!
Made from hand-painted porcelain bisque, the 12 x 14 cm (L x H) “Couch Potato” Groom Figurine portrays the sad life that awaits your baby sis in her domestic bliss.  Bride stands cross-armed with her bouquet in one hand, while the groom [...]

Gabriel Dishaw’s Junk-Metal Sneaker Sculptures

Motherboards and sneakers are quite the unlikely combination.  That’s why these sneaker sculptures, which uses old circuit boards and other throwaway materials to create replicas of popular kicks, look way awesome.
Created by junk-metal artist Gabriel Dishaw, the growing collection now numbers five pieces, with names such as the Air Jordan Colossus, Junk Dunk and Blazer Pentium 1.0 (which should give you a hint about what shoes they’re based on).  They’re all made to an exact size of 9.5 inches, although they’re unwearable (you can try, but I’m sure it’s “you break, you buy”).

Each sculpted shoe weighs anywhere from five to 20 pounds, with plenty of details to make them easily identifiable, from accurate stitch patterns to movable shoe tongues and laces.  He uses discarded materials – such as wires, staples, bolts, screws, old typewriters and motherboard scraps – to produce every single one.  Individual parts are bent into shape and [...]

Origami Tigers Will Crouch In Front Of Sydney’s Customs House, Ready To Pounce On Guests

When LAVA said they were showing off Origami Tigers, my first thought was, “If it rains, you’re all screwed.”   Of course, they turned out to be smarter than me, since they didn’t take the Origami part that literally.  While constructed using paper-folding patterns, the entire thing was built out of aluminum and Barrisol sheet, which should make it resistant to regular water damage.
But why, oh why, would you put giant Origami tigers at the walkway towards a building other than the fact that they’re awesome?  Because the Year of the Tiger is coming up, silly, right after the Chinese New Year festivities on February 14th.  Yep, they’re deliciously awe-inspiring and they’re tied into an actual celebration too.

According to Australian design firm LAVA, raising awareness about the tiger’s status as an endangered species was also among the goals for the creations. The Origami Tigers should look great under both day and [...]

Tejas Home Barlite Puts Discarded Beer Bottles To Good Use…As Chandeliers

Show your love for beer like you mean it.  How?  By hanging it over your ceiling in the form of the Tejas Home Barlite, a series of decorative lighting systems made out of empty beer bottles.
Proprietor Trent Cody has spent the last ten years perfecting his craft, which entails building chandeliers, sconces and other illuminating fixtures from your discarded Coronas and Miller Lites.   The result is a lovely-looking series of lighting artifacts of varying designs and configurations.

The Tejas Home Barlite consists of custom-fabricated pieces made out of stamped, shaped and welded steel parts, either in black or dark brown patina.   All the bottles are removable, so you can easily slip in any brand of beer that you prefer.  That way, you can use clear bottles for daily lighting, replace it with Green ones for Christmas or even dark ones for Halloween.  It definitely sounds more fun than regular ornate lighting [...]

Pega Design’s Wall Decals Will Do More Than Decorate Your Room

Who says only TVs could go the 3D route?  Pega Design’s new line of wall stickers don’t just adorn your walls with fancy art – they pop out too.   And you don’t even need special glasses to enjoy it.
I’d say throw a little more flair to the concept however, and these could make for some awesome-looking interiors.

Current designs consist of just three pieces – a lampshade sticker with a pop-out top that actually functions as a light, a perfume bottle decal that actually serves as a scent diffuser and a gramophone with a radio tuner inside.   I’m not sure how good they’d look on your wall, though, as they’ll probably need to be dressed up with accompanying decals, paint or wallpaper.

Seriously, I love the idea.  In many ways, this could be a precursor to the future.  Pop-out wall shelves anyone?  A wall decal featuring an ultra-thin TV, perhaps?  How about [...]

GOAT: Champ’s Edition Is The Definitive Treatise On Muhammad Ali, Makes For Heavyweight Reading

Boxing may be dying on its knees (with the Pacquaio-Mayweather debacle serving as its latest poison), but the great memories of pugilists past will remain with us forever.   Taschen’s latest opus on Muhammad Ali, GOAT: Champ’s Edition, is the definitive volume on boxing’s greatest practitioner, collecting an insane amount of content relating to the champ over the last 50 years.
GOAT (acronym for Greatest Of All Time) is one huge treatise in eight-color print – 792 pages, consisting of over 600,000 words (collecting the best essays, interviews and writing on Ali) and over 3,000 images (all gloss-varnished).  It’s XXL-sized, measuring 20 x 20 inches and weighing 75 lbs.  It comes with two 80 x 20 inch gatefold sequences and four silver 20 x 20 inch gelatin prints (signed by both Muhammad Ali and photographer Howard L. Bingham).

The book sports a white silk cover with pink lettering, slid inside a silk-clad box [...]

Have Famous People At Your Fingertips With The Mullish Muse Finger Puppets

We don’t know how you’re supposed to pull off putting Chuck Norris on your finger without having him break it, but you can try anyway with the Mullish Muse Finger Puppets.    Featuring the bearded action hero, along with a whole slew of celebrities and other pseudo-famous folks, the awesome collection should be the fastest way to your own YouTube comedy special (well, next to lip-synching Lady Gaga while looking like an idiot, of course).
Made out of felt paper, glue and some handmade stitchwork, the goofy-looking puppets come with detailed looks that make them easily identifiable.  The roster runs the gamut from actors (The Dude from Big Lebowski, Mr. T) to  politicians (Angel and Devil Obamas) to rockstars (Dave Grohl, Bono) to fashion icons (Marc Jacobs, Anna Wintour).  Sure, it feels kinda stupid having to shell out money for puppets of D-List celebs like Christian Siriano, but the awesome construction (plus [...]

Forgetful Gentleman’s Elephant Cards Help You Look More Thoughtful And Masculine At The Same Time

Forgot Mother’s Day, your girlfriend’s birthday and your bestfriend’s stag party all on the same week?  You need to be more thoughtful, fellow.  In case doing so is a struggle, let us steer you to something that could help – the Forgetful Gentleman’s Elephant Cards.
What exactly is it?  It’s a packaged set of letter-writing solutions that are designed to make sending personalized notes and greetings easier for you.  Yes, you can use it even if you’ve never written a single Happy Birthday card in your life (don’t worry, neither have a lot of us).
Elephant Cards contain cards and stationeries meant to deliver various greetings, all sporting masculine designs (let’s face it, those girly designs found in bookstores and gift stores are just lame).  Each set contains different pre-printed greetings (such as Happy Birthday, Thinking Of You, Thank You and more), along with blank cards and matching envelopes.   It also comes [...]

FxBalléry PVC Vases Collection Will Look Good In A Plumber-Inspired Interior

Want to decorate your house like a plumber?  You know, so you can pretend to be Super Mario and Luigi with your best friend.  Get rid of that ceramic flower base, then, and replace it with a unit from FxBalléry’s PVC Vases Collection.
Like the name implies, the vases are colorful PVC fittings screwed together in a variety of ways, allowing them to stand on tables while holding a stalk of flower in their mouths.   They each get a shiny finish for even better tabletop presentation and slapped with a handsome price of about $200-plus apiece.

Surely, a plumber (heck, even a fake Super Mario one) would be aghast.  Even with the long-lasting lacquered finish and those eye-catching colors, that sounds a little too steep for something you can probably scrounge up with a trip to local hardware store and some amount of time.
FxBalléry designed the unmistakably beautiful PVC vases with Domeau&Pérès, [...]

Wireframe Lamborghini Koenig Countach Looks Like An Invisible Car, Wants You To Buy It

I get it.  A Lamborghini is mighty expensive.  But pricing a wireframe sculpture of a Lamborghini Koenig Countach at the same exorbitant range sounds like a little too much.
That’s exactly what Benedict Radcliffe is doing with his work, though, which he originally produced back in 2008.  After touring it in galleries and art spaces around London (and even parking it in the street to a chorus of amused onlookers), he’s now ready to let it go for a steep £40,000 (approximately $65,000).

He used 160 feet of 10mm-thick steel rod to produce the creation, which he meticulously bent and welded into a life-like Koenig Countach.  It mimics all of the vehicle’s complex curves, with tons of unmistakable details (down to the Pirelli branding on the tires).  I mean, look at that front grill, those lines, that spoiler – all painted in a striking shade of flourescent orange.
Despite my protests, the piece [...]

Australian Hobbyist Turns 500,000 Volts Of Electricity Into The Tesla Coil Christmas Tree

Peter Terren has achieved some amount of fame with his Tesla coil photography, which he fondly refers to as “electrickery.”  His latest, a nine-meter high Christmas Tree (well, that colorful lightshow is supposed to be one), has to take the cake for what it has so intensely captured, though.
Using a Tesla coil that transforms mains power up to 500,000 volts and some slick slow exposure photography, he managed to turn the mass of electrical sparks and zaps jumping all around the place into a full-fledged holiday decoration.  Of course, it only looks like that in pictures.  If you see it in person, it wouldn’t be half as spectacular – it’s all just white sparks jumping in uncontrollable fashion.

So, how did he take that awesome shot?   According to Terren, the image started with a switched-off Tesla coil.  Over a period of two minutes (at which point, he also caused poor television [...]

How To Make A Gift Box That Looks Like An Ugly Lump Of Coal

Have something precious for someone special this Christmas?  Of course you don’t, you’re a cheap ass.  Whatever kind of gift you’re looking to give, this Lump of Coal Box should help raise its surprise factor.
As you can tell from the photo, it’s really just a box disguised as a piece of dark rock.  It’s for those moments when you want to see the look of shock and disdain across someone’s face before they realize there’s something inside the stark black lump.
Martha Stewart has a tutorial for making your own Lump of Coal Box, which you can use to make both cheap and expensive gifts look like just a tad more work went into them.  Of course, it’s craft, so if you’re not the cut-cut-paste-paste kind or if you think craft is gay (well, it is), you can just skip the whole thing over.
Materials consist of a cardboard box, masking tape, [...]