clocks

Posts tagged
with clocks

Illustration

Mechanical Crustaceans with Clockwork Insides Illustrated by Steeven Salvat

French artist Steeven Salvat has long been fascinated by the clarity and exactitude found in old biological studies. His portfolio is brimming with such renderings, usually with a modern twist such as this stunning series of decorative drawings on skateboard decks. For this new series titled Mechanical / Biological [Crustacean Study] , Salvat imagined intricate clockwork mechanisms that might animate the rigid exteriors of crabs, lobsters, and crayfish. The 10-piece collection was drawn entirely with a 0.13mm Rotring technical drawing pen, the process of which he captured in a video below. (via Colossal Submissions)

Design

This 24-Hour Clock Gradually Transitions You From Dusk to Dawn

All images via Scott Thrift

Instead of being a slave to the numbers on your clock, designer Scott Thrift would like you to have a more peaceful relationship to your timepiece, one that revolves around gradients and soothing colors rather than numerals. Today, his newest design, is a 24-hour timepiece that moves at half the speed of a typical clock, and operates on times of the day rather than numeric classifications. The subtle blues and purples that make up the clock’s gradient break down the day into dawn, noon, dusk, and midnight, allowing for a gradual transition rather than one that evokes stress by watching numbers tick by.

You can preorder Today on Thrift’s Kickstarter, or visit his previous clock design The Present on his website. (via My Modern Met)

Design Science

A 3D Printed Sundial Displays Time Like a Digital Clock

Using a clever mix of 3D printing and a few well-placed shadows, this sundial designed by Mojoptix projects the actual time as if displayed on a digital clock. The plastic component that casts the shadow—called a gnomon— is printed with extremely tiny holes that create pinpoint dots of light in the form of digits as the sun shines through during the day.

The sundial does have its limitations. The time only shows in 20 minute increments and it only works from 10am to 4pm during the day. Regardless, the results are no less miraculous when you see it in use in the video below (skip to around 13:00 to see it in motion).

The completed device is available for purchase here, or you can download the design files and print your own. (via My Modern Met)

Design

Ferrolic: A Clock with a Liquid Face Powered by Magnetism

Way back in 2000 I downloaded a screensaver designed by Yugo Nakamura called DropClock that tied in with your systems’ internal time to create a functional clock face depicting Helvetica numbers dropping into water in slow motion. It was mesmerizing to watch and I kept it running for years. Designer Zelf Koelman took the idea of merging time and liquid a step further by creating Ferrolic, a self-contained clock that literally displays time with liquid. It’s almost exactly what would happen if a digital clock and a lava lamp had a baby.

Ferrolic utilizes ferrofluid—a liquid that becomes strongly magnetized in the presence of a magnetic field—to display recognizable shapes in response to magnets embedded inside the clock’s aluminum frame. The moving blobs look almost alive, a fact not lost on Koelman who refers to them as “creatures.” He shares:

Ferrolic was designed from a strong fascination for the magical material Ferro Fluid. The natural dynamics of this fluid makes that this display bridges the gap between everyday digital screens and tangible reality.

Because the fluid behaves in a unpredictable way, it is possible to give the bodies perceived in the Ferrolic display a strong reference to living creatures. It is this lively hood that enables Ferrolic to show a meaningful narrative like for instance having the creatures play tag. In addition the natural flow of the material, it can be used to form recognisable shapes and characters. Ferrolic uses these both layers in parallel in order to display scenes and transitions in an poetic, almost dance like, choreographed way.

The clocks are a bit of a prototype so far, only 24 of the devices are available at a price of about $8,000 each, making it much more of a limited edition art piece than a consumer-grade alarm clock. You can learn more here. (via Boing Boing, Fast Company)

Design

O’Clock: Wood & Cork Clocks by Okum Made

Designers David Okum and Javier Palomares joined together earlier this year to form a little design studio called Okum Made. The duo are releasing a number of functional home objects made of wood and other materials including this new series of clocks called O’Clock. There are currently four different designs including American Walnut, Hard White Maple, Douglas Fir and Cork and you can pick them up over in their shop.

Design

The Present: An Annual Clock that Tells Time in Seasons

Making the rounds this year on a couple of design-y gift guides is The Present, a clock designed by Booklyn-based creative firm m ss ng p eces. The clock automatically sets itself to the current calendar date when you insert two AA batteries and then takes a year to make an entire revolution as the single hand highlights colors associated with the passing season. An original run of the clock was successfully funded on Kickstarter last year, but the clock is now available to the general public through their website.