Human-Sized Pinscreen Toy

This fun human-sized pinscreen toy is designed by clutch and tote designer Lulu Guinness. I am sure many of you have played with the popular 80′s toy. As an interactive art piece, participants are invited to step up to the device and press their bodies into it, creating all manners of hilarious, touching, and inevitably interesting body portraits. See dozens more images on their Facebook page.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For more amazing designs, please visit the amazing design section on our blog.

New Moon?

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Artificial Moon is a sculptural piece by Beijing-based artist Wang Yuyang constructed from hundreds of various compact fluorescent lightbulbs. At over 13 ft. wide (400cm) the piece is an imposing recreation of Earth’s moon, using strategically placed lights to mimic craters and other surface features. Its creation is also particularly poignant, as it was originally put on exhibit in Shanghai, a city that due to light pollution is often unable witness the actual moon moving through the night sky. Speaking of which, which side is the dark side of this moon?

For see more amazing designs, please visit the amazing design section on our blog.

Common things, redesigned

I love it when people redesign common objects, things that have an almost ubiquitous design that nobody has considered reengineering or improving. It inspires me to rethink of all the objects we encountered everyday. Most people know what a traditional egg carton looks like. Industrial design student Éva Valicsek from the Institute of Applied Arts in Sopron designed this collapsable egg carton. The cardboard flaps are attached with rubberbands to hold the eggs firmly in place and allow for the packaging to fold in on itself. I like that the eggs remain protected, yet accessible.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

For see more amazing designs, please visit the amazing design section on our blog.

Reinventing the wheel?

Katy Beveridge has a unique approach to animation, where it is not bound to the static screen. She created this wonderful zoetrope animation using paper discs mounted on bicycle wheels. It reminds me of the flip-book style animation that most of us did when we were young. Beveridge mentions being partially influenced by the technique of Tim Wheatley who has also explored the idea of bicycle-wheel animation. Check out the video!

An A-maze-ing Inspiration

I have never encountered a piece of art that has a more contagious smile than the pieces done by Contemporary Chinese Artist, Yue Minjun. Vancouver is privelaged to have his sculpture art work displayed at Morton Park, where pedestrians, drivers and bikers alike will surely take notice. The bronze figures are sculpted self portraits of the artist himself and the pieces are appropriately titled “A-maze-ing Laughter”.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

Although there has certaintly been deeper, social and cultural relevence to his art pieces – the element that I find inspiring is how his art has evolved into a symbol of happiness on an international scale. The inspiration and emotion that fuels art and design is fascinating and Yue Minjun is an excellent example of this. Check out the Morton Park Sculptures if you are ever in the area!

Light Control!

Do you sometimes wish you could control everything in life? I know I do. Weather, traffic, spending (argh!) and much more. Thanks to technology, many of my problems have been solved. PVR (Personal Video Recorder) lets us record shows we want to watch, at the time we want to watch it. Universal Remotes help us make our living room look clean and not cluttered. Now, New Jersey artist Joshua Kirsch gives us control of light! His most recent interactive sculpture is Concentricity 96, which was on display at the Grand Rapids Art Prize earlier this month.

This slideshow requires JavaScript.

This device looks like it’s from the future because of its raw metal appearance. Viewers can control the light by moving a glowing white handle in any direction. Based on the location of the handle, the array of 96 red/white LED lights will give out different light coordinations. Joshua estimated he spent nearly 800 hours on this piece working on almost all of the aluminum and steel components by hand over the past four years. Below is a video showing how the sculpture works.

Kirsch has created other interactive artworks in the past. His work includes Sympathetic Resonance, oculus and his acp donor wheel. Art museums generally don’t allow visitors to touch and interact with the exhibitions, but Joshua’s work is the complete opposite. They can only be experienced fully through physical manipulation. His work is truly amazing and innovative. It’s a combination of science and art. A mixture of both worlds. Speaking of science, this sculpture reminds me of the Marvel Comic superhero, Iron Man. Don’t you think?

To see more inspirations, visit our inspiration mondays section on our blog.

Pattern Matters

I stumbled across this website called Pattern Matters and found these mindblowingly creative 3D posters.

Their work is amazing and mindblowing, no, mindblasting (Thanks Russell Peters)! Pattern Matters explores on the way how patterns can be adopted differently on various platforms in graphic design. The main objective of Pattern matters is to inspire designers to look at pattern in every possible angle. I totally agree with this because I also believe that not only designers but people should keep an open mind and look at things in every possible angle as well. Pattern Matters stretch themselves from beautiful calendars to stunning 3D poster constructed by paper. They are truly amazing and inspiring.

For more design inspirations, visit our inspiration mondays section on our blog.

Custom Coffee Lamps

 

 

I was  surfing  the internet and found these magnificent lamps designed by Christian DuCharme. He created one for the Lafayette Espresso Bar + Market. The lamp named the “300 Cups Lamp”, was made from 300 “It’s Our Pleasure to Serve You” coffee cups, cut into slim triangles. Christian DuCharme has other 300 Cups Lamps displayed in the espresso bar in NYC. They were made from plastic coffee spoons and coffee filters. These lamps are amazing.

Christian Ducharmes designs are sure to be the center of attention in a space, however, it makes me wonder whether the materials are recycled. It would be more eco-friendly if we could reuse everyday materials such as plastic spoons and coffee filters. This would limit our wastes and create something innovative and creative. Wouldn’t that be even better?

Fabulous iTableous

This is amazing! It’s an iPhone table! Created by German engineer Benjamin Bachmeier, this giant iPhone 4 table is truly a dream come true to many. iTableous, an outsized tabletop bearing a striking resemblance to the long-awaited iOS handset. Unlike previous iPhone tables we’ve seen, this one doesn’t support multi-touch — a wireless keyboard and mouse hold the keys to navigating this behemoth. The up side is that you can actual use it as a table! If you can dream it, someone can make it!

3Ms – Magnificent and Mind-blowing Music

Inspiration can come from anywhere. Check out Sound Designer and Composer Diego Stocco. He has an ongoing project of making music from uncommon objects and places. He made music from a tree, from sand, and even a bonsai! His latest uncommon place is in a dry cleaner. He made music from all kinds of objects in the dry cleaner. His work is truly magnificent and mind-blowing.