Chicago-based jeweler Justin Gershenson-Gates recently grew a bit tired of creating jewelry after a show this summer and while experimenting with some watch part anatomy he decided to try his hand at spider and insect legs. One thing led to another a new series of small sculptural arthropods and insects was born. Justin tells that each piece takes several hours to make and being unable to leave things unfinished he generally makes an entire new creature in one sitting, a monumental feat considering the scorpions can take an entire 12-hour work session as the watch springs, stems, gears and straps are assembled and soldered together (nothing is glued). I love the idea of the tiny light bulb for the spider abdomens.

To prove that germs aren’t all bad, Paris-based studio Bold-design came up with an activity kit that uses bacteria to turn sand from the beach into stone souvenirs. Designers William Boujon and Julien Benayoun of Bold-design created Memorabilia Factory for the Design Exquis project that invites four designers to respond to each other’s objects in turn, like the parlour game where one player draws part of a character then folds the paper over and passes it along for the next player to make his contribution.

Bold-design was asked to respond to a portable machine designed by Mikael Metthey and Milan Metthey, which lets parents test sandy beaches for harmful bacteria to find the safest place for their children to play.

The designers came up with Memorabilia Factory, a family activity kit that uses a harmless bacterium to turn sand from the beach into solid stones in the shape of local rock formations. The kit includes a bacteria solution, a fixing agent, a tool to fix and shape the sand and three moulds, which represent Durdle Door in the UK, the dune of Pilat in France and the Kon Phi Phi islands in Thailand.

The 90° vase by Cuatro Cuatros (Four Fours) is based on an illustration of an optical illusion called the ‘Penrose Triangle’ where three lengths of square cross section are joined to form a triangle. The illusion of continuity is accomplished by ‘false perspective’ where the image displays ambiguous depth. An opening on the top of the vase accepts stalks of flowers which are are fed with water stored inside the tubular construction of the vessel. Cuatro Cuatros describes the 90° vase thusly:

Is this an impossible triangle?
The interposition, orientation and perspective create a contradiction of the space that makes us perceive something that is not. It comes from the Penrose experience. 90 ° is a vase that, based on a drawing, has been converted to a geometrical shape with volume. Depending on the point of view, both ends coincide and make it look like a closed figure.

Objects that seem like half-finished sketches of candle holders, vases, bowls and bottles won British designer Maya Selway second prize in the Object category of the Interieur Design Awards at the Interieur design biennale in Kortrijk, Belgium, last week.

Each object in the Kishu collection is carefully weighted at its base to support its lopsided structure. “I worked for a long time to get the balance just right,” Selway said.

The delicate pieces are made from oxidised copper, and the vase also has a shallow silver dish for holding water. The bottles and bowls are purely decorative, but the candle holder and the vase can be used as shown.

Selway trained as a silversmith and jeweller at Camberwell College of Arts in London and Bishopsland near Reading, and has also worked making props and building sets for theatre and film.

There should be a special Nobel Prize set aside for geniuses who find ways to improve the simplest things in life. And this year’s award would go to Shapeways user OliveBird, whose Button 2.0 turns any shirt into a convenient headphone wrangler.

It’s not to say that the traditional button design isn’t useful. It’s just that with the addition of a subtle clamp on one edge for holding headphone cables no thicker than two millimeters, the Button 2.0 is approximately a thousand times more useful. And this isn’t some design student’s thesis on how to make the world better. It’s an actual product you can order from Shapeways in different colors ranging in price from $3 to $4. Expensive for a button? Yes. But this is the bleeding edge of shirt fastening/cable wrangling technology.

This birdfeeder is made for the fastfood generation of birds. “Fly thou” is equipped with solarpannels to give light in the signs and the house when it gets dark and on opening hours. The house is build of recycled wood and freshly 3D printed objects.

The birdhouse is a prototype by Brian Wolter.

Flickr photographer Patrícia Almeida recently shot these great photos of a wonderfully whimsical umbrella art installation in Portugal. Like something out of a fairy tale, the umbrellas look almost like they’re magically floating in mid-air. As she writes, “In July, in Águeda (a Portuguese town), some streets are decorated with colorful umbrellas. I felt like a kid, amazed by all that color!” She calls it Umbrella Sky.

Love this kind of outdoor art. Bonus points that it provides nice shade for those strolling along the street. According to the Daily Mail, this installation is an initiative by the council in Agueda, Portugal and is a part of an art festival called Agitagueda.

There are many designs that are simply done. Such is the colorful tree ring lights by Judson Beaumont, a designer at Straight Line Designer and a Vancouver firm dealing with furniture designs.

It is termed as Tree Rings and the lights have been created from shells of beetle pine topped using mirrored Plexiglas allowing the cool embedded lights from fluorescents to glitter within the dark surroundings.

They might not seem to have practical applications although the lights seem like they could be put to use as rather miniature tables and even stools since they are able to hold enough weight.