Awesome Art & Design

Red Hong Yi’s latest work is a giant portrait of revered artist Ai Weiwei, inspired by a quote about one of his own works. The piece was created using about 20,000 sunflower seeds carefully placed on a large canvas. As quickly as her creation comes together, it’s gone.

A mechanical keyboard with a charming design. The Lofree can be used wirelessly or with a cable, can be paired with up to three devices at once, and has three backlight settings. It’s based on the Apple keyboard layout but you can use it with any PC or mobile device.

Medicom and Perfect Studio’s third Banksy figurine after the Flower Bomber and the Love Rat. Based on the famous 2003 anti-war stencil, the Bomb Hugger figurine stands nearly 13″ tall and weighs almost 6lb.

To promote its high capacity batteries, Kreisel converted a Mercedes-Benz G 350 d into a fully electric vehicle. It has two motors that produce up to a total of 360kW and goes from 0 to 62mph in 5.6s. Its batteries last up to 186mi and can be quick-charged to 80% in just 25min.

Brightech’s lamp looks like it belongs in Deckard’s apartment in Blade Runner. It provides a ring of ambient illumination courtesy of an efficient 12-watt LED light source. Offers three brightness settings and stands about 15″ tall by 14″ wide. In silver, white, or black.

Barnaby Dixon not only has an awesome name, he’s also an incredible puppeteer. Here he is showing off another one of his fantastic creations, a tiny velociraptor. It’s all in the tail. And that squeaking voice.

MudbrainsTvDIY gives us a brief glimpse at an amazing build – he replicated the T-800 arm that Miles Dyson had in Terminator 2. It’s made entirely from cardboard, glue, and varnish. If you’ve got about 7 hours to spare, you can watch how he built it, step by laborious step.

Instructables contributor MariaK64 shows us how to transform a IKEA PS 2014 pendant lamp into an exploding Death Star with nothing more than paint, masking tape, and some artistic skill. But instead of firing at the exhaust port, simply pull the cord to blow it to bits.

Vladimir Zhilenko’s video is in Russian, but you don’t need to speak the language to admire his craft as he builds a wooden soccer ball replica. It required lots of geometry and patience, but the result is impressive. Sanding the edges into a sphere had to be so satisfying. Skip to 2:02.

Innovo Design creates jewelry and other accessories packing tiny vials of radioactive tritium gas, which makes them glow in low light or darkness without need to be “charged” in daylight. They offer rings, pendants, USB drives, bottle openers, and even a tritium “flashlight.”

It’s the world’s most derided and improperly used typeface, but there’s no denying that Comic Sans is iconic. Great Big Story introduces us to Vincent Connare, the typographer who came up with the casual font while working at Microsoft, and explains its genesis.

We love the primitive pixel art on these playing cards, created in homage to 1980s video game systems and computers. The face cards are particularly awesome, but this is a case where even the numbered cards keep with the theme. Available in blue or red packs.

An upcoming Netflix documentary series that profiles some of the world’s best designers and artists, including Nike’s Tinker Hatfield and graphic designer Paula Scher. Premieres 2/10/17.

Time-lapse footage of one of Thunder Laser’s cutting machines as it precisely slices through a sheet of MDF plywood, gradually revealing the intricate latticework of a flat-pack model of the Eiffel Tower. We don’t really need one, but we want one of these machines in our office now.

This clever bedside stand transforms your Apple Watch into a tiny old-school Macintosh computer while you charge it for the night. Made from soft silicone, so you need not worry about scratches. Available in classic beige or Macintosh TV black. (Thanks Johannes!)

Amazing, but simultaneously creepy footage of a piano that was rigged up by artist and composer Peter Ablinger to modulate key presses in such a way that it sounds like it’s speaking. Our overlords have arrived, and they have 88 keys.

If you haven’t seen Kubo and the Two Strings yet, you must. It’s simply one of the greatest achievements in animation ever. Then watch this 16-minute behind the scenes reel, which shows off some of the stop-motion, miniatures, VFX, and voiceover work that went into the film.

Each of Craighill’s metal desk puzzles does double duty as a pint-sized work of art and a brain-teaser. The six-piece puzzle measures 3″ x 3″ x 3″, weighs about a pound, and is milled from solid cartridge brass in Massachusetts.

Designed by nonprofit Architects for Society to provide rapid, dignified, sustainable housing for disaster relief and other humanitarian efforts, Hex Houses can be set up quickly and easily, and can be linked together to create to provide long-term communities for those in need.

“I think in a way that destroying things is a creative process…” Alan Williams explains how his childhood knack for breaking and re-configuring toys inspired his design aesthetic. His current works are intricate animals with bio-mechanical bodies. A film by Ben Cox.

Computer Direct Outlet’s Volta V is a custom-made PC that houses high end components in a compact bamboo or walnut chassis. It has liquid cooling and magnetic dust filters to keep it cool, clean and quiet, and comes with a lifetime warranty.

“My art is a collision. And it’s a collision of fine art, craft, and what I call the fringes of society.” San Francisco-based artist Ben Venom uses recycled fabric and old clothing to make punk and heavy metal-themed quilts, patches and more.

Robert Xavier Burden is a collectible toy geek. He’s also an incredibly talented painter. He combines his passions by creating massive and intricate Renaissance-style oil paintings – sometimes as tall as 15 feet – of his toys and their related characters.