Awesome Art & Design

THE ARK is a soothing display by artist Romain Tardy, who transformed a wall of cacti at the Ethnobotanical Garden of Oaxaca into a feast for the eyes, giving movement to the otherwise still succulents. Music by Squeaky Lobster.

Made by Dutch boutique bedding maker Snurk, Pool is made of duvet covers and pillowcases that will make your bed look like a swimming pool. A playful bedding set that will go even better on water beds.

James R. Harris of Design Through Story Telling made an interactive periodic table-style chart of story elements as collected by TV Tropes. The online version links each element to its TV Tropes entry, but you can also buy a print.

True believers! Support Glen Bricker’s proposal for an official LEGO set of Xavier’s School for Gifted Youngsters. It has four levels, including the Danger Room and Cerebro, as well as a variety of X-Men minifigs, including Professor X.

Pop Chart Lab screen printed its Cartography of Kitchenware on a natural canvas apron. The result is a poster of over 200 kitchen tools, machines and more that’s more useful and affordable than the original.

Behance member John Raya made Star Wars-themed football helmets, borrowing many of the color schemes and icons from those of NFL teams. We’d love to see the Hal Hutta Hutts on offense. NFC teams here, AFC teams here.

Seletti’s A La Carte is a side table that looks like it’s made of oversized playing cards. If you have a fat stack, stack multiple tables to make a huge pyramid. The table is made of MDF and is available in black, red and blue.

Wouldn’t it be awesome if we had beautiful paintings in urban areas instead of ads? That’s exactly what Etienne Lavie did. The street artist covered advertisements in Paris with prints of classical paintings.

Designed by Hsunli Huang, these architectural file holders and pen cups are inspired by the fire escapes and facades of the cast iron buildings of New York’s SoHo district. Made from ABS plastic. If only the actual buildings were this pristine.

That’s not bokeh; those are stickers. Yukino Ohmura uses the scrapbook staple along with acrylic backdrops to mimic urban landscapes at night. It takes her two to three weeks to complete a piece. Watch her at work here.

Last time we checked in with artist David Mach, he was lighting his art on fire. In this series, he says to hell with the whole “no more wire hangers” thing, and built incredible animals and human figures from stacked and bent hangers.

Martin Vargic and Jay Jason Simons are working on a funny but informative illustration that depicts the major players and websites on the Web as countries and continents. The poster also includes stats and other trivia.

Pernod Ricard’s Project Gutenberg concept makes cocktail mixing engaging and convenient. Spirits are shipped to customers in book-shaped containers. An iPad app lets them learn cocktail recipes as well as monitor and order liquor.

Another stunning time-lapse clip painstakingly shot by photographer Randy Halverson, Huelux explores the skies over South Dakota, Wyoming and Utah. We had no idea you could see such spectacular aurora in this part of the world.

Mountain Dew Kickstart’s new commercial spot features the simultaneous launch of 800+ model rockets, sparkling into the night sky. The behind the scenes video shows off more footage of the pyrotechnic magic – no CGI involved.

Inspired by the fruit and vegetable paintings of Guiseppe Archimboldo, artist Freya Jobbins creates amazing sculptures using recycled toys and doll parts. See more of her incredible works on her Facebook page.

If the next Bond villain is a hipster, this should be his signature weapon. Man Ready’s decorative axe has a 3.5lb axe head plated in 24-carat gold. Its handle is made of hickory and can be customized in any color.

Van Cleef & Arpels’ Midnight Planétarium Poetic Complication has 6 stones representing Mercury, Venus, Earth, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn, all moving at the same pace as the actual planets. A shooting star indicates the time. Price? $245K.

While we’ve seen robotic musicians before, Z-MACHINES seem a lot less stiff, cranking out music that seems more improvised than robotic. In this clip, their 78-fingered guitarist and 22 drum percussionist worked with Squarepusher.

Ty Templeton imagines what Batman would be without the input of writer Bill Finger. For most of his life, artist Bob Kane claimed sole credit for inventing the Dark Knight, but evidence suggests otherwise. 2/8/14 marks Bill’s 100th birthday.

Building in numerous shelves, designer Mathieu Lehanneur’s birch plywood desk provides tons of space for small items, while offering a sculptural look that’s perfect for a creative space. Satellites sold separately. Assembly required.

Whether you’re in the K.I.S.S. Army, or The Boss is your cup of tea, these bold and dynamic prints by Ryan Rabbass are just the thing for true rock n’ rollers. His technique brings musicians to life despite being still images.

In the words of Hank Schrader, “They’re Not Rocks, They’re Minerals.” And what a hunk of minerals this is. Carved from Brazilian agate, you’re looking at one of the many awesome geode noggins you can buy from Skullis.