Awesome Concrete

LEGO bricks are great for building all kinds of things, but did you know you could use them as a mold for casting concrete? Neither did we. HomeMadeModern shows us a couple of techniques – one in which the blocks are used as a direct mold, and the other where the bricks are covered in silicone, which becomes the mold.

MMEP Studio’s unique accent light brings a modern look into any space. Each handmade lamp is constructed from cast concrete and features a stepped and angled interior that makes it appear its LED light source is at the end of a corridor. It measures 9″H x 3″W x 3″D and is powered by a USB cable.

This handmade tray from Cruickshank Creative offers a modern and minimal place to offload your everyday carry when you come home from a busy day. They’re made from cast cement with a beeswax sealant and a protective cork bottom. It measures 13″ w x 8″ d x 1-1/8″ h and comes in natural grey or white finishes.

Etsy shop Mind The Minimal sells a variety of handcrafted home accessories made from concrete. Among them are these cork-backed hexagonal coasters. They’re made using a special light-toned concrete which can be painted with a splash of color, then sealed for durability. Sold in sets of four.

Artist PEJAC created this outdoor work, which looks like a giant crack has formed in the concrete, but upon closer inspection is actually an ant-like colony of thousands of tiny people. The work, titled Social Distancing appears outside Valdecilla Hospital in Santander, Spain. Be sure to visit the artist’s website and Instagram.

Express your thoughts or personalize a space with this handmade concrete text from Betonic Home. The 2″ tall letters are deep enough to stand on their own and can be ordered with magnets if you want to place them on your fridge. Sold in sets of four or more letters.

Slovakian company KoolForm shows off its texturing system, which can emboss realistic textures on walls. The process starts out with a layer of concrete, rolling or stamping a pattern, then painting to bring out details. The embossing tools come in wood, brick, and stone textures.

Handmade by Taiwan’s 22STUDIO, this unique writing instrument features a body made from high-density concrete. This gives the pen and its matching desk stand an artful, modern look while adding heft and substance. Available in grey or red.

If you’re going to park your butt on an outdoor bench in the winter, it can be a jarring experience. HomeMadeModern wanted to improve upon the basic design, so he embedded a heated rubber mat in a DIY concrete bench. Heated seats are great in cars, so we imagine they’d be just as pleasant outdoors.

Tents are usually made from nylon. For a longer-lasting shelter, there’s a material that combines fabric and concrete and allows for semi-permanent structures to be erected in minutes. Wonder World shows us how pre-sewn Concrete Canvas can be inflated then sprayed with water to harden into shape.

Taipei-based 22designstudio created these brutalist concrete characters based on a font by designer Haniboi. The 3D letters measure about 2″ h x 1.2″ l x 1.2″ w, and are sold individually so you can make whatever word you want with them. Because of import costs, the price drops substantially if you buy in quantity.

With the help of Pikus Concrete, Zack Nelson of JerryRigEverything managed to have a gigantic 3D-printed statue created in his own image. The 12-foot-tall concrete sculpture weighs in at 6,000 pounds, and Jerry had it dropped next to his buddy’s swimming pool as a prank. We’re sure it will soon get sliced open by What’s Inside.

Pens are usually made from metal or plastic, but 22STUDIO’s unique model has an outer case made from cast concrete. Its name reflects its deeply contoured edges, which provide a nice tactile feeling and grip. Available in two shades of gray and white.

Material Immaterial Studio presents a unique piece of interactive tabletop art. Cast from concrete, the diminutive Factory features design elements of Brutalist industrial architecture and incorporates a rolling ball maze. Just roll the tiny steel bearings from its tower, and enjoy the show! Measures 8.07″ W x 4.33″ D x 6.29″ H.

Maker W&M walks us through the process of turning a couple of muffin tins into a miniature concrete mixer, complete with a motorized stirrer. Though in this case, its purpose is to smoothly blend instant coffee with water. It probably would make a good hot cocoa too.

We’re suckers for just about anything in the shape of VW’s iconic Type 2 vans from the ’50s, ’60s, and ’70s. Cedar and Stone Garden’s 5″ x 3″ concrete microbus planters are perfect for growing all your indoor succulent hippie plants. They’re available numerous colors, including tie dye.

A concrete flume is a type of spillway which is used to help channel water and to help prevent erosion. In this video, Curb Roller Manufacturing shows off a spinning 1000 lb. drum they built that helped to quickly spread and shape concrete into a 24 foot wide ditch for the Missouri Dept. of Transportation.

Just because you’re working from home doesn’t mean your desk should be a mess. Urban Minimalist’s smart looking desk organizer has spaces for your phone, pens, pencils, business cards, and everyday objects. It’s made form cast concrete and has a recycled cork bottom to protect surfaces from scratches.

Woodworker Adam Zawalich crafted a truly unique electric guitar using concrete and anchoring cement. He started with a burled walnut body which he used to create a silicone mold, and then cast the concrete for the heavyweight guitar. He got a two-for-one deal by using the wood to make a second guitar.

Most furniture is made primarily from wood or metal, but HomeMadeModern’s funky, angular chair is crafted from steel-reinforced concrete. He made the chair’s mold using strips of melamine, hot-glued, and sealed with silicone caulk. By filling the inner core with foam insulation, he was able to dramatically reduce its weight.

Maker Chris Salomone loved the idea of river and ocean tables. But he was sick of seeing the same materials – glass and wood – used over and over again. So he made a river table that uses concrete as the land and LEGO pieces as the river.

We’re not sure if the surface of a ping pong table made from concrete and rebar is ideal for gameplay, but Modustrial Maker’s heavy duty outdoor table build still looks amazing, especially with its LED under-lighting and light-up net, and set against the desert sunset.

There are lots of kinds of bookends out there, but we rather appreciate the minimalism of roughfusion’s concrete cubes. These 3″ blocks are heavy enough to hold paperbacks upright, and will look great sitting on any bookshelf. Available in grey, natural, or charcoal.

Looking for a fun and modern accent for your garden or front porch? Skip the traditional garden gnome, and go with Plato Design’s Nino. This 13″ tall gnome features a brutalist, low-poly design cast into hand-worked cement. Also available in a mini 6.5″ version.

Lyon Béton’s Urban Garden collection consists of two vases inspired by city dwelling. The water pipe vase holds a single stem while the nuclear cooling tower can hold a house plant. Both are made of fiberglass-reinforced concrete and come in different sizes.

Modustrial Maker teamed up with Chris Salomone (of LEGO river table fame) to create an impossibly thin modern bench from glass fiber reinforced concrete. It looks like it was a ton of work, and you’ll have to watch the video to see if the finished bench holds weight.