Awesome Art & Design

Dreipunkt’s flat-pack wood kit lets you build your own orbital model of the Earth, the Sun, and the Moon. As you move its lever, each astronomical body rotates relative to the others, as an arrow indicates the date on which they take up those positions. From Laserdeko, who has all kinds of nifty laser-cut stuff for sale.

This series of three jigsaw puzzles come together to form the major anatomical structures of a 5-foot-tall human being. Choose from head, thorax, or abdominal sections, each certified for accuracy by medical illustrator Mesa Schumacher. They make a great gift for biology students, or just anyone interested in science.

Tattoo Stories is a party game that gives players three minutes to doodle a design for a tattoo based on a selection of attributes. Each artist pitches their tattoo to the customer, who gets to judge and choose the winner of the round. For 4 to 6 players ages 12 and up.

Drone pilot Shaggy FPV takes us on a ride through the mountains of Austria with breathtaking footage of the Dorfertal Valley he captured with his aerial photography rig. The reverse perspective offers a great sense of speed and changes things up a bit from the typical forward view.

Head to the Pacific Northwest in this epic snowboarding film from KORUA Shapes. The black-and-white photography evokes quite the mood as boarders take to the slopes in the days before the pandemic lockdown. The title is based on the nickname for Washington state’s Ranier Beer, which served as lubricant for the cast and crew.

This unique metal memento from J. L. Lawson & Co features a concave shape and spiral pattern inspired by the gravitational pull of a black hole. Thanks to a ceramic ballpoint, it can spin like a top for up to 15 minutes. The 1.25″ diameter coin is available in blackened iron or fine silver.

Wood model makers Time for Machine have a new series of kits that let you assemble objects that move. Each plywood model features a splash of color in its wheels or spring-wound mechanism. Designs include a supercar, vintage car, hot rod, minibus, locomotive, and a lockbox.

“Giant Minifig” is an oxymoron. The idea of LEGO’s little people is that they’re small enough for a LEGO-scale world. But Jason of Bourbon Moth Woodworking wanted to give his kid a supersized minifig for Christmas, so he fabricated a 2-foot-tall figure out of wood. LEGO sells a smaller wooden minifig, but it’s not as cool as Jason’s.

Burls Art makes guitars out of unusual materials. Having built instruments out of Himalayan salt and jawbreakers, this time he turned his attention to coffee. He built the body using several pounds of beans from Copper Coffee, bathed in clear epoxy. We love the copper accents in included on the finished guitar.

Mathematician Kokichi Sugihara of Meiji University shows off another brain-breaking optical illusion, taking home the prize of Best Illusion of 2020. While it looks like a simple design at first, the 3D Schröder Staircase looks exactly the same right-side-up and upside-down, its left end looking taller than its right.

For those unfamiliar with the concept, a morning star is one of those ancient weapons that’s basically a spiky metal ball on a stick. It’s definitely not something you’d want to ever encounter on a battlefield. Though this teensy version that Koss Workshop made from a ball bearing and some screws is a little less deadly.

Oat Foundry builds electro-mechanical signboards, inspired by the ones that show schedules at older train stations and airports. Puzzle fiend Chris Ramsay commissioned one, and is here to show off just how cool it is. If you’re interested in having one built for yourself or your business, you can request a quote here.

Toast your friends with spirited holiday cards featuring classic Campari cocktails. Love & Victory’s set of eight cards and envelopes with greetings on the front and a cocktail recipe – Boulevardier, Negroni, Negroni Sbagliato, or Americano – on the back. Just the thing to thank weary Santa and his drink-deserving, gift-giving ilk.

If you’ve ever walked through an outdoor sculpture garden, you’ve probably seen sculptures that move when the wind blows. Artist Anthony Howe is known for creating kinetic sculptures like these. In this video, he provides a glimpse into the painstaking process that’s involved in making these dynamic and precise works of art.

Lamar + Nik created this clever music video for Taylor Bennett f/Mr. Hudson’s soulful hip hop track Don’t Wait Up. Rather than shooting on location, they placed the musician into scenes using the screen from an iPhone. They made the sets from cardboard, hot glue, and assorted miniatures. Behind the scenes here.

LEGO Certified Professional Jumpei Mitsui created a 3D interpretation of the wave depicted in Hokusai’s iconic Ukiyo-e image The Great Wave off Kanagawa. The brick-built version shows off some really neat LEGO tricks, especially with the foamy wave peaks. The 50,000-piece model is on display at the Hankyu Brick Museum.

Like many places around the world, Tokyo likes to celebrate the holidays with lights. The photography masters at Virtual Japan captured this highly immersive footage of Tokyo City Keiba’s 2020 festival of lights, which features over 8 million individual lights for visitors to enjoy. It looks especially rich and vibrant in 4K HDR.

This stainless steel bookmark not only saves your place, it provides useful shapes for detailing your ideas. The sturdy stencil incorporates a protractor, compass, t-square, circle, square, and triangle bullets, isometric guides, and metric and imperial rulers. The expansion card adds letters, numbers, and a few other shapes.

Thanks to The Mandalorian, Boba Fett is back in our lives once more. And thanks to Burned by Design, the badass bounty hunter can be a permanent fixture in your backyard. This handmade wood burning fire pit will help keep you as toasty as a Tatooine afternoon and is perfect for roasting marshmallows.

Woodworker James Garwood last wowed us with his 2000-segment pen. For his latest project, he challenged himself by crafting a wooden cube, filling it with resin, then painstakingly turning and sanding the blue material to create a perfectly shiny sphere. Support James on Patreon for a chance to win this unique plaything.

There’s something so comforting about staying in a tiny house. Everything just seems more manageable. Latvian firm Brette Haus shows of their design for a prefabricated house that arrives partially assembled, then unfolds from its box shape to reveal its structure. Prices for the homes start at €22000 (~$26,700 USD).

Rock out with your French curve out. Designer Mike Vaiksaar’s clever drawing tool for Suck UK makes geometry so much more fun, packing a protractor, set square, arc tool, and other useful stencils into the shape of an electric guitar.

BOWIE: Stardust, Rayguns, & Moonage Daydreams celebrates the life of David Bowie through a series of illustrated comic panels. The 160 page hardcover graphic novel chronicles his rise from pop singer to Ziggy Stardust, and his numerous personas and reinventions. Written by Michael Allred, Steve Horton, and Laura Allred.