Awesome Art & Design

There are tons of wallets to choose from these days, but we’ve never seen one that looks like this. It has an all-aluminum body with an aesthetic inspired by Japanese cyberpunk anime. Each one is made from numerous CNC-machined parts, with exposed Torx screwheads to complete the look. Available in 3 customizable designs.

Peer through the lens to spy on an exotic and spooky forest, where strange and mysterious creatures lurk in the shadows. We just love the black and white shading in animator Elenor Kopka’s quirky little short film.

Maria Constanza Ferreira created this short using screen grabs from Google Street View. By setting the perspective to a fixed view, it creates the illusion of an impossibly long road. As the film progresses, it uses digital manipulation to turn satellite images into abstract art.

K’nex fanatic Austin “Austron” Grainger shows off his latest build, an enormous ball machine made from over 115,000 pieces and more than 850 feet of track. It’s installed in the lobby of The Works Museum in Bloomington, Minnesota. It’s not quite as big as his record-breaking machine, but it’s the largest one that’s currently standing.

Designed by Ben Liew, this bold writing instrument features a body with a slick open-weave design. The complex geometry is made possible using 3D printing technology, and the pen will be offered in resin or titanium, or as a glass nylon prototype, which doesn’t share the smooth feel of the production versions.

We’ve seen how it’s possible to turn a bowling ball into a bowl. Carpenter Carl Jacobson was kind enough to send some of the scraps to jewelry artist Patrick Adair, who managed to transform the leftovers into some really cool and colorful rings, complete with a finger hole design.

Pop Chart’s intricate 24″ x 36″ poster diagrams the relationships between 89 different kinds of beer, along with roughly 200 examples to choose from. Follow the lines to the bottom of the chart, and you’ll find glassware recommendations as well.

Despite its popularity as a building material, wood is rarely used in the construction of PC cases. Bucking that trend, DIY Perks built a truly unique computer system from wood, with rope trim. We love how he incorporated the air cooling system as a sculptural design element.

Bisous Production’s shows off their CG particle physics expertise through this experimental animation that explores the disorder that occurs in organic matter. Watch as fluids collide and collapse into strange formations of soapy liquid goo.

The image of fire that most of us have is the tip of a candle or a fireplace flickering, buy there are many other types of flame. Enjoy some variety in this clip from Yan Liang’s Envisioning Chemistry and Shanghai Jiao Tong University’s awesomely named Combustion Lab.

Bench vises are typically made from metal. But John Heisz of I Build It decided to see if he could make a fully-functional version of the ubiquitous shop tool from the material it’s typically used to hold in place. Build guide here.

Dappled Light Studio presents the ultimate take on Jeff Bridges’ character from The Big Lebowski. This urethane resin kit features The Dude achieving zen, enjoying a white russian, a joint, and bowling, while sitting cross-legged on his rug. Assembly and finishing required.

Stephon Marbury’s Starbury brand makes these unique basketballs, which are extremely light reflective. They display cool patterns when viewed by the naked eye, but when photographed or recorded with a flash or directional lighting, they glow brilliantly in your images. Available for a limited time from Touch of Modern.

Nico Vuignier and Jules Guarneri’s night skiing film is a visual masterpiece. It features amazing imagery which appear to be entirely lit by the orange glow of flares. It was shot without CGI, and looks like it was quite the shoot. (Thanks David!)

Maker of cool stuff Ollari’s shows us how to turn plywood into a sweet modern ceiling lamp which has a shade made from bent slats placed around its circumference. It actually doesn’t look that hard to do yourself with a little time, effort, and the proper tools.

Craighill’s small, but substantial puzzle is made from four identical pieces of brass and four identical pieces of stainless steel, each precisely machined for an exacting fit. Once assembled, the finished piece is a beautiful, sculptural object to display on your desktop.

Sculptor Steven Richter has a thing for melting his wax creations after he builds them. This time out, he decided to craft a bust of the Wicked Witch of the West out of crayons, then hit it with a heat gun to put the old bag out of her misery.

Designed by American Gross (sculptor Josh Kimberg) and produced by Clutter Studios, this creepy orange and black bunny of death is sure to ward off people who dare enter your cubicle at work. Limited to just 30 pieces, the 7″ tall collectible resin figure glows eerily in the dark, as if it wasn’t terrifying enough in the light of day.

Engineer BrunS is an expert at metalcraft. In this clip, he machines an impressive, smooth-spinning, 3-axis gyroscope toy that looks a bit like a flying saucer. Along the way, he fabricates a couple of simpler spinning tops to tease us, while his buddies pimp a phone for their sponsor.

At first glance, skull-obsessed artist Ali Gulec’s duvet cover looks like one of grandma’s quilts, but upon closer inspection, the vivid image on its top is an evil looking geometric skull, surrounded by stars and flame. The same image is available on a variety of objects, including matching throw pillows.

Field Notes latest Quarterly Edition is series of beautiful fall-themed memo books, each with an embossed and debossed image of a leaf on its cover. The three-pack of 48-page notebooks includes North American sugar maple, American elm, and scarlet oak designs. Annual subscribers get a special-edition fall leaf bandana.

Domino mosaic master The Domino King pays tribute to two staples of the Pokémon universe, Ash Ketchum and Pikachu. This amazing display features 35,592 colorful dominoes, arranged to form a variety of festive Pokémon-themed images.

Margison Woodworks‘ impressive black pen features a gun metal frame, wrapped in real carbon fiber, and coated with a glossy urethane resin. The pen includes a Schmidt Easyflow 9000 cartridge, but accepts all Parker-compatible ballpoint refills.