Design

Lamps Made from Sawmill Waste and Tree Branches Embedded with Resin and LEDs

For his Brecce collection, Italian designer Marco Stefanelli devised an ingenious way of removing fragments from sawmill scraps, tree branches, and cement fragments, and replacing them with perfectly sculpted resin embedded with LEDs. The resulting lamps retain the organic nature of their original form yet cast a beautifully subdued light. You can see much more on Stefanelli’s blog. (via the awesomer)

Art Design

Tropical Lego Birds

Ornithological LEGO master Tom Poulsom has followed up his wonderful British bird series with a new set of tropical birds featuring macaws, hummingbirds, finches and more. Poulsom says he’s well on his way in gaining enough support on the LEGO CUUSOO site to turn some of these birds into commercially produced models but needs a few more votes. I think I would honestly buy the entire set, so help me help Tom help me and give him a vote and imagine me giving you a giant eHigh-five.

Art

A Canopy of Colorful Umbrellas Spotted in Portugal

This beautiful installation of umbrellas was recently spotted in Águeda, Portugal by photographer Patrícia Almeida. Almost nothing is known about the artist behind the project or its significance, but it’s impossible to deny the joy caused by taking a stroll in the shadowy rainbow created by hundreds of parasols suspended over this public walkway. It reminds be of Garth Britzman’s bottle carport. (via my modern met)

Art

A Giant Labyrinth Constructed from 250,000 Books

The cavalcade of art projects surrounding the 2012 Summer Olympics in London continues today with the completion of this enormous book maze designed and built by Brazilian artists Marcos Saboya and Gualter Pupo (and over fifty volunteers) at Southbank Centre. Entitled aMAZEme, the stacked and twisting labyrinth based on a fingerprint belonging to writer Jorge Luis Borges was built using 250,000 remaindered, used and new books, most of which are on loan from Oxfam and will be returned after the exhibit. The piece covers over 500 square metres, with sections standing up to 2.5 metres high and will be on display in the Clore Ballroom through August 25th. Watch the time-lapse video above to see the entire project come together, the volunteers worked through the night for five days to finish in time.

Photography

Idyllic Photographs of the Tuscan and Moravian Landscapes by Marcin Sobas

Poland-based photographer Marcin Sobas captures mesmerizing images of agricultural fields and hills of Tuscany, Italy and the Czech Republic (first photo). Sobas approach is unique in that instead of capturing the entirety of the landscape he instead uses a telephoto zoom lens allowing him to take tightly cropped shots that appear both immense in scale but extremely specific in scope. You can read more about his process in an interview over on 500x, and click through any of the images above to see them full size.

Art

A Multi-Colored Sprinkler Paints On-demand Rainbows

Photo © Edwin Deen

Photo © Edwin Deen

Photo © Edwin Deen

Photo © Niels Post

Photo © Ampelhaus

Have a blank white room in need of an instant color treatment? Consider this glorious rainbow sprinkler by Netherlands-based artist Edwin Deen. Using some color pigment, an electric tap, a few meters of hose and a plain garden sprinkler, Deen transformed a simple garden sprinkler into a smile-inducing artistic device. I have the sudden urge to put on a white painter’s uniform and start prancing through this thing. The rainbow sprinkler will be on display at BARRY at the W in Amsterdam starting August 30th. All images courtesy the artist. And if you like this, also check out the Robo Rainbow. (via my amp goes to 11)