Looking for a romantic yet nerdy way to propose to that special someone? If they happen to have a fondness for industrial engineering you’ll be sure to get an emphatic “yes!” if you do it with this stark white robotic arm in a box, created by Atelier Ted Noten with Laikingland. The arm was made using the latest 3D printing technologies and sits in wait inside a transparent box until you press a single button. It then slowly and dramatically unfolds and extends until it presents the ring to your significant other. And in this case, though it’s hard to see in the photos, the ring is actually a miniature gold handgun with a diamond exploding from the barrel. But we’re pretty sure you can swap your own in. Available come October in a limited run of just 18 pieces, plus 2 artist proofs.
Not only has Beijing-based artist Wang Yuyang created one of the more unique artistic representations of the Earth’s moon that I’ve ever seen, but it also happens to be the most eco-friendly. At least when it comes to power usage because the miniature moon, which measures 13 feet across, is self-illuminated by an outer wrapping of compact fluorescent bulbs that are strategically positioned and shaped to reflect the features of the real moon’s surface, including craters and other landmarks. There are unfortunately still plenty of reasons why CFL bulbs are just as un-ecofriendly as incandescent bulbs though (i.e. mercury vapor) so here’s to hoping that the crane keeping this piece aloft doesn’t decide to pull a Times Square new years’ countdown with it.
While they’re more commonly used as a way for prepubescent boys to leave an imprint of their middle finger behind in novelty stores, those pin art desk toys are occasionally an amusing way to kill a few minutes at work. And when blown up to full-scale, a clever way to advertise your fashion brand.
That’s what Lulu Guinness did with this giant pin art display which encouraged people to ‘Be a Pin Up!’ themselves. If you had a real-life wayback machine you could travel back to last month and experience it for yourself under the St. John’s Gate in Central London, where it was on display as part of Clerkenwell’s Design Week. But now we’re going to assume it’s sitting on top of Lulu Guinness’ equally gigantic desk, next to a monstrous version of Newton’s Cradle which could demolish a building.
Do you love social networking? Have hundreds of friends on Facebook? Maybe you want to show off those friends in a tangible, offline manner. I’ve not really seen any way to do this in the past, but a new company called Social Artworks wants to turn your Facebook friends into a personalized poster.
All you have to do is head to the Social Artworks website, pick out your poster size and then use the “connect to Facebook” option. Then select the friends you want depicted (since you may not want to see all of your friends printed out) and it will arrange their pictures in a nice, orderly manner.
The company doesn’t collect any personal data and only uses pictures that are made publicly available, so no need to worry about data privacy. You can choose to have your collage as a poster print, or on canvas. Sizes range from 16” x 10” up to 36” x 24” and prices start at around $19.
If you’re an artist that enjoys working on the digital side of things, there’s a good chance that you’ve encountered a Wacom tablet of some sort. Since most of my work is done with a pencil or pen anyway, transitioning to a tablet was a natural step. I’ve been using them off and on for the last 6 years or so. The most difficult barrier to get over is always the disconnect one feels when drawing on one surface, while seeing their work on another. Of course, that’s what the Cintiq line is for.
The Cintiq line is Wacom’s own brand of LCD monitor, which also happens to be a fully-functional drawing tablet. Since it’s introduction years ago, digital artists everywhere (myself included) have drooled over the idea of using one. Recently I was able to spend a few weeks with the latest Wacom Cintiq 21UX.
And to think, a few months ago I thought this wireframe Lamborghini Koenig Countach was impressive. Well by it’s own right it is, but comparing it to this wireframe Chiangjiang 750 motorcycle, created by artist Shi Jindian, is like comparing computer graphics from the 1980′s to what modern 3D packages are capable of today. It was apparently created in a process where the artist crochets steel wire around an object and then destroys and removes it from the inside, kind of like popping a balloon inside a home-made piñata. Now how he did that with an actual motorcycle is beyond me, but the results are certainly impressive.
Remember the Ohio Art Twirl-O-Paint toy from the 70′s and 80′s? Well this Rot.Sketch app for the iPhone, from developer Jean Helfenstein, pretty much does the same thing, minus the wet paint flung all over your parent’s dining room.
You start by drawing a random design on the screen by swiping with one finger to create a moving point, or with two fingers to create a moving line, and then you literally spin your iPhone or iPod Touch on a flat surface to create the psychedelic digital designs. I’ve included a video below which shows the process, though it’s pretty easy to understand even with a rudimentary grasp of centripetal forces. But because of the flat back design of the iPhone 4G, this could be one of the first apps to only be compatible with the 3G and 3GS because of their spin-friendly curved backs.
The app’s already been submitted to the iTunes App Store and is just awaiting approval, and I imagine it will set you back just a couple of bucks when it’s available.
Built and programmed by Blair Neal as an art installation, ‘Color A Sound’ uses an overhead projector and a long roll of transparency to create a sort of manual jukebox that requires a user to essentially doodle the sheet music. A set of colored markers are used to make lines, dots and even complex illustrations, and a camera pointed at the projected results converts the seemingly random drawings into music, playing back corresponding samples from an actual musicbox, or really any instrument including a Roland TR-808 drum machine. The manual scrolling works in both directions and at almost any speed, and until you clean the transparency, any and all musical creations are stored indefinitely.
Tired of fighting over who gets to choose what to hang on the living room walls? The photo of Einstein sticking his tongue out vs. sad clowns on black velvet? Well thanks to designers Jean-Louis Fréchin and Uros Petrevski, anyone with an iPhone can decorate as they see fit with this special augmented reality wallpaper. Now as wallpapers go it’s not the most subtle design, but the ‘random’ circle patterns allow their FabLabWall iPhone app (I couldn’t find it in the App Store) to show virtual pieces of art, and even sound and video.
The wallpaper was actually created to be an art installation at the Musée des Arts Décoratifs in Paris as part of an exhibition that runs from May 7 to August 15, 2010. And while there are no immediate plans to put the wallpaper into mass production, I’m sure the idea will inspire entrepreneurial types to take advantage of the current augmented reality trend.
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