Sofía Henao

a series of redundant telephone boxes are transformed by benedetto bufalino and benoit deseille into water tanks, filled with brightly colored, exotic fish.

The post phone booth aquariums by benedetto bufalino + benoit deseille appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

via http://consequenceofsound.net/2013/11/heres-a-record-store-made-out-of-legos-bask-in-its-glory/

via http://www.reddit.com/?count=175&after=t3_kjsf7

Multimedia artist Elsa Mora was born and raised in Cuba before moving to the U.S. in 2001. Mora now lives and works in Los Angeles where she creates beautiful cut paper sculptures, illustrations and other visual curiosities nothing but paper and glue. A number of her original works are available in her shop and on Etsy. She’ll also have work at the upcoming About Paper exhibition at Couturier Gallery in L.A. starting December 7th. (via Lustik)

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The Writer was built in the 1770s using 6,000 moving parts by Pierre Jaquet-Droz, his son Henri-Louis, and Jean-Frédéric Leschot

Designed in the late 1770s this incredible little robot called simply The Writer, was designed and built by Swiss-born watchmaker Pierre Jaquet-Droz with help from his son Henri-Louis, and Jean-Frédéric Leschot. Jaquet-Droz was one of the greatest automata designers to ever live and The Writer is considered his pièce de résistance. On the outside the device is deceptively simple. A small, barefoot boy perched at a wooden desk holding a quill, easily mistaken for a toy doll. But crammed inside is an engineering marvel: 6,000 custom made components work in concert to create a fully self-contained programmable writing machine that some consider to be the oldest example of a computer.

In this clip from BBC Four’s documentary Mechanical Marvels: Clockwork Dreams hosted by Professor Simon Schaffer, we go behind the scenes to learn just how this remarkably complex 240-year-old device was designed and constructed. The entire clip is well worth a watch, in fact here’s another bit about Merlin’s gorgeous silver swan automata:

In my youth the “automata” of choice was either a Tomy Omnibot or a demonic Teddy Ruxpin, cheaply manufactured plastic robots, both which played casette tapes and were destined to break within a few weeks (if you lost or broke the remote control to the Omnibot it was effectively useless). Not to suggest the machines above were mass-produced as children’s toys, but it’s amazing to think such incredibly crafted machines like the Writer and the Swan were built in the eighteenth century around the time of the American Revolutionary War, the age of James Cook, and the invention of the steam engine.

A quick note if you watch the entire clip, there’s one misleading part. For some reason the BBC program suggests that the Mechanical Turk chess playing automata was the real deal, a brilliant chess computer that nobody could beat, when in reality the entire thing was a sham perpetuated for years. There was actually a human chess master crammed inside the cabinet out of view who controlled everything. (via Colossal Submissions)

Update: Some also argue that the 2,100-year-old Antikythera mechanism used to calculate astronomical positions is a contendor for the first analog computer. (thnx, Elliot)

The Luggage Sitter is a refinement of the “Easy Lock” we saw earlier. Designed by two different teams, it’s a great way to compare how different designers approach the same problem with varied yet similar solutions. The refinement according to me is in the way the lock has been designed to be more flexible.

• The redesign of the retractable suitcase handle allows it to be used as a lock.
• When needed, the handle can be pulled out from the retracting framework, folded over, and locked onto the framework.
• Flexible cords, which connect the handle and framework, can secure the suitcase to an armrest or similar structure.

Luggage Sitter is a 2013 red dot award: design concept winner.

Designers: Huang Yichen, Lu Nannan, Meng Luhua, Pang ShengLi, Shen Yuebo, Shuai Yingbin, Xu Wei & Zhang Yuchen

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
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(Safe Luggage Travels was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. Safe Safe Safe Watches
2. Map Your Travels by Scratching
3. Livesteam Your Travels

Austria-based artist Stefan Zsaitsits creates large-scale graphite portraits of truly strange and wonderful characters whose bloated faces often transform into unexpected landscapes. Some of the artists earlier portraits from 2010-11 (not shown here) were collected into a book called Headsongs. See much more in his drawing and painting portfolios. If you liked this, also check out the work of Pat Perry.

Michael Markiewicz’ scooter was désigned for kids who commute! Rather than lug around a backpack on their shoulders, the combination design includes a backpack adapted to attach to the front of the scooter. After they’ve arrived at school, kids can collapse the scooter and roll their bag from class to class like wheeled luggage. Better for the back and twice as fun!

Designer: Michael Markiewicz

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Yanko Design
Timeless Designs - Explore wonderful concepts from around the world!
Shop CKIE - We are more than just concepts. See what's hot at the CKIE store by Yanko Design!
(Kid’s Scooter Pack was originally posted on Yanko Design)

Related posts:

1. Doggy Table for Kids BY Kids
2. Scooter in the Sea
3. The Scooter Desk

the unique bridge draws on ancient culture and the symbolic moebius strip to connect opposing banks in a newly developing district on meixi lake.

The post NEXT architects win competition for meixi lake bridge appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

a simple yet unbreakable stainless steel combination lock for protection against wheel and seat post theft on bikes.

The post sphyke C3N anti-theft combination lock for bike components appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Ecuador-based illustrator and art director Javier Pérez has been posting a fun series of photo illustrations over on his Instagram account. The simple ideas mix everyday objects with line drawings, creating balloons out of grapes, porcupine quills out of nails, or light bulbs out of balloons. These are a few of my favorites but you can see much more here. (via Behance)

an empty lot is transformed into an impressive composition of planes, materials, and textures.

The post cox rayner architects make use of the city’s left over space appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

via http://theblackworkshop.tumblr.com/

The Creator’s Project recently visited with kinetic sculptor Anthony Howe who creates kinetic artworks powered by wind. You might remember Howe from a piece here on Colossal back in July. Watch the video above to learn more about his artistic philosophy and watch some excellent footage of his hypnotic sculptures.

the exquisite forms are carefully constructed from organic materials and even small found woodland creatures.

The post camila carlow sculpts human organs from foraged flora appeared first on designboom | architecture & design magazine.

Mane / Dogue de Bordeaux / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Mane / Dogue de Bordeaux / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Dax / Boxer / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Dax / Boxer / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Roz / Chinese Crested / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Roz / Chinese Crested / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Vito / French Bulldog / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Vito / French Bulldog / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Katie / Springer Spaniel / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Katie / Springer Spaniel / Courtesy Carli Davidson & Harper Collins

Published just today, Shake is a new book of photos from Portland-based photographer Carli Davidson who used a high speed camera to capture hilarious freeze-frame shots of various dogs mid-shake. The amusing portraits seem to transform ordinary pets into strangely distorted animals right out of a cartoon. Known for her candid and heartfelt portraits of pets and wildlife, Davidson first began photographing animals while working with the animal care team at the Oregon Zoo. Shake was partially inspired by her own dog Norbert whose drool she regularly scrubs from the walls of her home due to his frequent shaking.

To accompany the book Davidson also teamed up with the folks over at Variable to make a slow motion montage of numerous dogs shaking and rolling their heads. That’s two whole minutes of glorious HD drool. Shake features a total of 130 high speed photos of 61 dogs, some of which are also available as prints. Pick it up here.

Self-taught artist Glen Weisgerber is a master pinstriper who has been in business since the early 1970s painting all matter of truck lettering, race cars, logo designs, guitars and bike customizations. This summer Airbrush Action Magazine filmed Weisgerber doing a number of different hand lettering tutorials including single stroke lettering, and chrome lettering. It’s almost a miracle to see each letterform leave his paintbrush so fully formed and perfect. If I was asked to make a list of 100 guesses of what this man was about to demonstrate based on his looks alone, I don’t think pinstriping would have crossed my mind.

via http://thisisnthappiness.com/

Unveiled several days ago in Belfast, Northern Ireland as part of the Belfast Festival, WISH is the latest public art project by Cuban-American artist Jorge Rodriguez-Gerada, known for his monumentally scaled portraits in public spaces. The image depicted is of an anonymous Belfast girl and is so large it can only be viewed from the highest points in Belfast or an airplane.

Several years in the making, WISH was first plotted on a grid using state-of-the-art Topcon GPS technology and 30,000 manually placed wooden stakes in Belfast’s Titanic Quarter. The portrait was then “drawn” with aid of volunteers who helped place nearly 8 million pounds of natural materials including soil, sand, and rock over a period of four weeks. Rodríguez-Gerada says of the endeavor:

Working at very large scales becomes a personal challenge but it also allows me to bring attention to important social issues, the size of the piece is intrinsic to the value of its message. Creativity is always applied in order to define an intervention made only with local materials, with no environmental impact, that works in harmony with the location.

The project was made possible by several local businesses, most notably McLaughlin & Harvey, P.T McWilliams, Tobermore and Lagan Construction who generously donated materials, tools, machinery, staff, soil, sand and stone. WISH will be up through at least December and local residents already have a nickname for it: The Face from Space. (via Arrested Motion)