Awesome Art & Design

Dan Abramson’s very amusing map of the USA as interpreted by New Yorkers, who apparently have no sense of geography, seems pretty fair, considering the world revolves around Gotham.

If you’re like us, your crazy fantasy of leaving on a cross-country bike trek just got a little crazier thanks to Topeak’s Bikamper. It’s a personal shelter that uses your bike in place of tent-poles.

(Shameless Plug) Awesomer founder Sion Lee is back with his latest site, tutverse, with over 8500 hand-picked tutorials, tips and resources for digital artists, easily browsed by application or purpose.

At first glance at designer Denis Guidone’s minimal black wristwatch, you might think the hands are broken, but once you get a hang of it, it’s actually quite easy to read. (Thanks, Random Objects!)

It seems like such a simple concept, but we love the ambient glow that plusminuszero’s A4 lamp emits, while masquerading as a 500-sheet ream of paper. We wish they made one in tabloid size too.

LetterMPress lets you experience traditional letterpress printing on the iPad. Every step of the process is emulated, providing a familiar interface for experts and a friendly start for beginners.

Mr. Greedy is one mean mofo. He eats little kids for breakfast and collects their heads. Yeesh. But a little decapitation doesn’t stop us from enjoying this brilliantly animated, if a little dark, short film.

Built to encourage development in Huainan City, China, this unusual structure derives its shape from a grand piano, accompanied by a violin entryway and staircase. Google Earthers, check this out.

Lucie Thomas and Thibault Zimmerman (great name!) of Zim and Zou, created this collection of actual size retro technology, meticulously cut from colorful paper. A little making-of video here.

Are you perpetually late to appointments? You could just set your clock forward by a few minutes, or you could buy Diamantini & Domeniconi’s wall clock, giving you a 3 minute jump at all times.

Now this is what we call projection mapping! Several design studios collaborated to produce this perfect stage concept for bringing electronic artist Amon Tobin’s new album ISAM to life.

(SPOILERS) HPosters are Lucy Knisley‘s series of illustrated and lighthearted re-telling of all of the Harry Potter books. You can download high-res versions of the posters for free here.

Architect Mark Nixon created this interactive wind chime sculpture, which hangs from the underside of a bridge, creating peaceful music as people walk over and the wind blows through.

Jeremy Hutchison wrote to manufacturers that mass produce items and ordered one of their products, with a special request: let one of their workers deliberately screw it up. More at the link.

20% Lomography Keychains are miniature replicas of four of the most popular Lomo cameras – Lubitel+, Diana F+, Fisheye 2, and the LOMO LC-A+. Each keychain comes in a gift-ready tin.

Pixbags are padded SLR camera bags made by Chocmuf. What they lack in protection, they make up for in style. There are dozens of designs and supported camera models.

Artists Larry Moss and Kelly Cheatle have developed the unique art of “airigami”, which they describe as a combination of sculpture, puppetry and origami. Check out their website to see more.

This insanely detailed, working wooden model of a Caterpillar excavator took Rob Fisher’s Woodchuck and Co. 3,000+ hours to build, using 4,000+ handcrafted pieces of cherry and walnut wood.

Designed by studio HeyHeyHey, Melvin the Magical Mixed Media Machine is the most complicated Rube Goldberg contraption we’ve ever seen. It’s purpose? Promoting itself.

If you’re a closet graffiti artist, avid doodler or if you just hate blank paper, the Walls Notebook is for you. Has 80 pictures of New York City walls waiting to be your page, board or canvas.

The winner of the 2011 Nokia Shorts Competition, JW Griffiths’ Splitscreen: A Love Story was shot entirely on a Nokia N8. Hardly a new concept, but still well executed. Making of video here.

These highly detailed, sleek and sexy hand made slip-cast ceramic lamps are created by Ryan Weigner. Features 9mm and AK-47 lamp stems and bodies. Fixture, shade, cord and plug are included.

In the future, London’s Brixton district will be home to countless robotic workers, living amongst humans, forced to do the jobs they no longer want. Solid social commentary, brilliant CG animation.