Acrylic

Artblox can take the waveform from a musical passage, words, or any other short sound, and etch it onto a block of clear acrylic. They can be personalized with your choice of color scheme, and an optional QR code which lets you play back the recorded sound via a mobile device.

Spectrum analyzers are a nifty way to visualize music. But maker Platinum Kit decided the displays that come with graphic equalizers were too small, so he built a jumbo version with colorful LEDs placed behind acrylic blocks. He reversed the lows and highs, but it’s still super cool.

We love the retro/mod style of Time4Circle’s desk organizers, made from sheets of acrylic bent into an S-curve. They’re perfect for pens, pencils, smartphones, eyeglasses and more. A felt pad inside protects the acrylic from pen and pencil points. Choose from a variety of colors.

One of designer Takao Inoue’s artistic goals is to capture fleeting moments and preserve them. His unique tabletop curiosity does just that, freezing a puffy dandelion about to release its seeds inside an acrylic block, illuminated in space with a smooth, OLED light source.

Architect Michael Bidner and designer Elke Adam-Bidner’s unique chess set looks like something out of a modern art museum’s collection. The LED backlit board is crafted from 64 varied height cubes in alternating red and white, along with a set of minimal chess pieces.

Artist Cyril Bagnost presents a cool take on 3D acrylic illusion lamps, with whimsical low-poly designs cut precisely to the outline of the animal. The bulldog and panther are pretty sweet, but we also dig his Jeff Koons-inspired balloon dog. Lamps are powered via USB.

Artist Michael Murphy created these cool hanging pieces for the Nike Store Berlin which look like Michael Jordan when viewed head on, but disintegrate into important icons of his career when viewed from the side.

Architect Zaha Hadid’s see-through acrylic table looks looks like a melting glacial formation with its drippy icicle legs. See it up close at London’s David Gill Galleries through 5/30/12.

We loved these interlocking blocks the first time we saw them. Now win one of three 256-piece Blocklets kits, worth $50 each. (Contest Has Ended, Thanks for Your Entries!)

These interlocking wood and acrylic blocks can be snapped together to form just about any object you can imagine. Want some? Support the Kickstarter project, and you’ll be building sometime soon.