Awesome Art & Design

Chicago’s Drinking Modern pays tribute to Chicago’s “L” train, along with public transportation systems in London, New York, Paris, San Francisco, D.C., Boston, Philly, and Los Angeles. Each coaster set assembles to form a map of its urban subway or rail system. They’re made from white birch with a non-slip cork backing.

Boise, Idaho’s Alpine Wood Co. makes extraordinary furniture from wood, metal, and resin. Among their collection is this beautiful black walnut dining table with a deep blue river of resin running through its center. It comes in sizes ranging from 48″ x 30″ to 96″ x 48″, with the larger models doubling as a ping pong table. Benches sold separately.

The data that Google Maps has amassed is pretty amazing. Bad Decisions Studio shows us how it’s possible to use the Google Maps API and Cesium to bring the power of its global data into Unreal Engine 5 to add your own lighting and make high-fidelity 3D renderings of any location on the planet.

Logos are a big part of companies’ identities, and brands often merge. Brendy Boy played around in Adobe Illustrator to see what might happen if competing brands combined their logos. He started out with McDonald’s + Burger King, then tried combining YouTube + Twitch, Coca-Cola + Pepsi, and Starbucks + Dunkin Donuts.

Artist LiuMutou shows off his expert model-making abilities by carving an impeccable replica of a 1959 Cadillac Eldorado Biarritz. Every detail is there, including a tiny steering wheel, a curved acrylic windshield, working lights, and sharp tailfins. And it doesn’t just sit there; it’s got a working powertrain and even can drift.

Adam from North of the Border apparently got confused and got the names of two of Marvel’s superheroes backward. His Man-Ant and Man-Spider sculptures are two of his most disturbing creations to date, making the insects the hosts with human genetics taking over their bodies. It’s the human skin that really creeps us out.

If you’ve ever curbed the rims on your car, you know how awful it can look. But with the proper equipment and expertise, it’s possible to repair damaged rims. Wheel Restore USA shows how their diamond cut wheel lathe can make even heavily damaged wheels look as good as new by removing a thin layer of metal. They also have a wheel-painting robot.

Maker Connor Holland has previously shown us how he creates puffy metal objects by hydroforming. He teamed up with artist Hanna Clarkson to create a wearable armored puffer coat by welding together sheets of steel and then inflating them with compressed air or water. The finished suit looks like the Michelin Man and a Dalek had a child.

Metalworker Koss shows off a bold knife design with an angular profile, a thick blade, and a built-in knuckle guard. Rather than forging the blade, he started with a thick plate of high-carbon steel that he shaped using power tools and files. He crafted the handle scales from white G10, a strong fiberglass and epoxy composite.

Filmmakers Páraic and Kevin McGloughlin created this brief visual love letter to New York City. By editing together hundreds of still frames they shot while in the city, they managed to boil down the essence of the Big Apple into a 51-second short film. We’d love to see them do this with every city they visit.

While you could buy some cheap folding chairs, we prefer the modern design of Get Hands Dirty’s design, which has a clean, angular look and is something that you can build for yourself if you’ve got the right tools and lumber. The wood-shaving interlude was a nice touch.

Woodworker Jack Mack shows us how a bunch of wood veneer strips can become a beautiful piece of functional art. He started by placing the colorful wood strips into a bucket he filled with resin, then carved the piece by hand on a lathe into a vase. It’s not until it’s close to its final form that its eye-catching patterns are revealed.

These artful playing cards from Montenzi feature imagery inspired by the ancient Roman tile floors. Their backs have tiled patterns, while their fronts reveal shapes and images with the well-worn look of millions of footsteps. They come in a greenish-grey classic edition and Purple and Teal limited editions. A three-color bundle is also available.

Textile artist Greg Climer creates quilts that look like pixelated photographs. After filming a brief scene of his friends kissing, he transformed them into a series of 36″ x 48″ quilts which he animated into a 3-second sequence. In total, he made 36 quilts from about 59,000 squares of fabric. It took him roughly five years to complete the project. (Thanks, Rusty!)

There are tons of stop-motion LEGO animations out there, but Legotto’s approach is different. Rather than moving models and minifigs, they create frame-by-frame pixel art animations using 1×1 LEGO bricks. This process requires great patience and attention to detail, but the results are impressive. Check out their octopus, slime, and Pokémon animations.

Artist and maker Hassan Abu-Izmero was given the nacelle from a decommissioned jet engine as a gift. After thinking about what to do with the unusual piece of junk, he decided to clean out its interior, add shelves and lights, and turn it into a liquor cabinet for storing his whiskey. It’s a cool build, though we’d need a 777 engine to hold all our booze.