Tag Archives: wood

One man, 100,000 toothpicks, and 35 years: An incredible kinetic sculpture of San Francisco

(click images for detail)

Thirty five years ago I had yet to be born, but artist Scott Weaver had already begun work on this insanely complex kinetic sculpture, Rolling through the Bay, that he continues to modify and expand even today. The elaborate sculpture is comprised of multiple “tours” that move pingpong balls through neighborhoods, historical locations, and iconic symbols of San Francisco, all recreated with a little glue, some toothpicks, and an incredible amount of ingenuity. He admits in the video that there are several toothpick sculptures even larger than his, but none has the unique kinetic components he’s constructed. Via his website Weaver estimates he’s spent over 3,000 hours on the project, and the toothpicks have been sourced from around the world:

I have used different brands of toothpicks depending on what I am building. I also have many friends and family members that collect toothpicks in their travels for me. For example, some of the trees in Golden Gate Park are made from toothpicks from Kenya, Morocco, Spain, West Germany and Italy. The heart inside the Palace of Fine Arts is made out of toothpicks people threw at our wedding.

See the sculpture for yourself at the Tinkering Studio through the end of June. Photos courtesy of their Flickr gallery.

Update: Rolling Through the Bay has been moved to the American Visionary Art Museum through September 2012. (thnx, jenny!)

Engrain Tactile Keyboard

This gorgeous tactile keyboard was designed by Brooklyn-based Pratt student Michael Roopenian. After testing several different surfaces including stone and sand he arrived at this wooden key solution that’s cut from a single piece of sandblasted lumber. Anybody need an incredible industrial designer? He’s for hire. (via core77)

By Christopher on April 21, 2011 • computers wood

Customized book side tables

Customized book side tables wood furniture books

Provide the dimensions of your favorite stack of books to San Francisco-based furniture maker Jane Dandy, and she’ll create a wooden side table that perfectly encases them. (via svpply)

By Christopher on April 14, 2011 • books furniture wood

Wooden business card case

Wooden business card case wood simple office

These oak business card cases are handmade by Masakage Tanno in Asahikawa, Japan exclusively for the Scandinavian shop Mjolk. In February the team at Mjolk took a trip to Studio Tanno where they shot photos of his woodworking studio that revealed an incredibly quality of craftsmanship, something that’s quite rare these days. (via cmybacon)

By Christopher on April 10, 2011 • office simple wood

Spotless Table

Spotless Table wood simple minimalism furniture ceramics

The Spotless Table is a fun new concept by Dutch designer Jenna Postma (previously). The surface of the side table is embedded with six ceramic coasters that can easily be removed for quick cleaning. The minimalist in me heartily approves.

By Christopher on April 8, 2011 • ceramics furniture minimalism simple wood

Toothpick Typography

Toothpick Typography wood typography fonts animals

click for detail

Swiss design student Jérôme Haldemann was given the class assignment of creating a font based on an animal theme. The animal he received at random: a hedgehog. Behold his prickly, three-dimensional interpretation of Bodoni: TYPICK. Thanks Jérôme for sharing your work with Colossal!

By Christopher on April 4, 2011 • animals fonts typography wood

Forest Xylophone

Forest Xylophone xylophones wood outdoors nature advertising

A new commercial for NTT Docomo’s Touch Wood SH-08C wooden-encased phone, created by Morihiro Harano of Drill Inc. The video follows a small wooden ball that traverses a sloped xylophone “track”, relying only on the force of gravity to gradually play Bach’s Cantata 147. If only more advertising was this brilliant. (via spoon and tamago)

By Christopher on April 3, 2011 • advertising nature outdoors wood xylophones

Street Map Cutting Board is Both Functional and Gruesome

Street Map Cutting Board is Both Functional and Gruesome wood maps food cooking city

Just saw this new item pop up at my favorite Icelandic design shop, Birkiland. The Nordurmyrin by 7-9-13 Design Group is a meat cutting board designed to mimic the streets of an actual neighborhood in east Reykjavik.

Nordurmyrin is a meat cutting- and serving board. It draws its name from a neighbourhood in the old east of Reykjavik. Its street names are named after renowned characters in the old icelandic sagas: Landnama, Laxdaela and Njala. These are examples of the street names: Audargata, Gudrunargata, Gunnarsbraut and Skarphedinsgata. When meat is cut on the board the blood juices rush down the streets. It refers to the conflicts that arose in the societies of the second and third generations of Icelandic settlers.

The blood juices run down the streets?! Excuse me while I put on my Bill the Butcher costume and whip out the credit card, this cutting board is the most gruesomely awesome kitchen implement of 2011.