Sunday, April 26, 2009

Bench of Nails: Recycled Metal Art + Furniture Design



A bed of nails conjures mental images of extreme asceticism, potential pain and times past. This bench of nails inverts that association with a smooth, curved and rippled surface for comfortable seating and an extremely contemporary look that shifts and changes from each angle of view.




The underlying wood is cut, smoothed and scorched to fade it to the background while the nails on top are ground down to reveal their inner silver shine and stand out visually against the dark wooden surface below.

Although technically intended as works of art and not necessarily functional furniture, it seems logical that designers could extend this approach to all kinds of ordinary household designs. With the nails spaced closely enough and sufficiently smoothed there is no reason not to make everyday furniture like this.

Wednesday, April 22, 2009

Microworld by Licht

Colors



The Flag



A Fairy’s Jewel Case



Swiss Refraction



Indian yellow



Primroses



Aquamarin



Gerbera



‘I Love’ drops



Würzburg at Night: Refraction in Waterdrops

Friday, April 17, 2009

More Pictures of Hyundai HED-5 i-Mode

interior Hyundai HED-5 i-Mode




Hyundai HED-5 i-Mode Pictures

Hyundai HED-5 i-Mode : Luxury Cars




We first saw Hyundai's rolling CUV shapeship, the HED-5 i-Mode, back in Geneva, but today at the LA Auto Show is the first time the Korean automaker has shown the car in the States. New to the crossover is a 2.0L gasoline direct injection (GDI) engine that Hyundai plans to roll out in production machines shortly. The new Theta Turbo GDI engine puts out 286 horsepower, which is very impressive for such a small powerplant. Hyundai puts its direct injection and turbo technology to good effect and combines these new features with its Continuously Variable Valve Timing (CVVT) to allow for a 15-20 percent fuel economy increase compared with a standard 2.0L four-banger. Expect to see this new engine make its way into a production car sometime in 2010.

According to Hyundai, the HED-5 has been approved for production and a new six-seat production CUV will hit the market in 2010 that's inspired by its design. Of course, don't expect to see its far-out future-spec interior make it to production, but the GDI engine and general look of the concept is a lock.

source LA auto blog

The New 2010 Ford Fusion and Pictures




In fact, the 2010 Ford Fusion (and its rebadged brother, the Mercury Milan) are the last examples offered with Detroit Three nameplates. The Fusion's competition from Chrysler and General Motors are only available with automatic gearboxes, and while the import brands all offer the option to shift-it-yourself, few are actually purchased by stick-averse Americans.

So when Ford released its powertrain combinations for the 2010 Fusion, we were surprised to find that not only was a manual available on S and SE four-cylinder models, but the Blue Oval also upgraded ye olde five-speed cog-swapper to a six-speed unit. As fans of the three-pedal arrangement, we promptly requested a manual Fusion to see how it stacks up to the high expectations set by the V6-powered 2010 Fusion Sport we've already reviewed. read full at http://www.autoblog.com

The amazing self-rolling 'snow bales'