The Domino Wall Clock From The Carbon Design Group.

from the press release:
We live in a hectic world. Alerts, alarms, and reminders prod us through our days with unforgiving precision. Challenging this pressure-filled environment, the Domino Clock™ takes a simple, iconic object and transforms it into a new way to tell time. The concept is simple. Three larger-than-life dominoes are equipped with articulating dots that flip back-and-forth between black and white to keep time. They hang on the wall or stand free, communicating wirelessly as they quietly mark the passing hours and minutes. By subtly abstracting the idea of time, Carbon’s Domino Clock creates a more relaxing experience.



Challenging Expectations. While the idea itself is pretty straight forward, it challenges the assumptions we make about familiar objects. "People have a lot of immediate associations with everyday things, especially iconic ones," says Joe Sullivan, industrial designer at Carbon Design Group, a Seattle-based product development consultancy. "It’s interesting to play with these expectations. In this case, we’re taking a well-known object out of its normal context and giving it new capabilities, allowing it to function as something completely different."




"The numbering scheme on dominoes and dice developed as a way to represent numbers that’s immediately recognizable, so in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense to use it as a time piece," explains Sullivan. "Everyone gets it, but the fact that we’re not used to seeing it in this context makes it unexpected at the same time. It’s this shift in context that gives the concept a twist."



Fueling the Passion. The Domino Clock was one of a number of ideas bubbling up in the Carbon studio when it was selected to be a Carbon Passion Project. Similar to Google’s 20% Time, Carbon’s Passion Projects are designed to fuel the creative spark. "They’re a way to push the boundaries… to try something new, to take a break from the constraints of client projects and play a little," explains Dan Blase, President of Carbon Design Group. "These projects foster Carbon’s culture of learning and play, and, at the same time, give our team the variety they thrive on."

Making it Real. Simple ideas often require a good deal of work to keep them simple. "Form-wise, it’s a very literal reference to a domino, so 95% of the up-front heavy-lifting from an aesthetic standpoint is defined from the get-go," says Sullivan. Once the form is set, the conversation moves quickly to feel and function. The reference to real dominoes plays heavily here as well. From their playful falling motion, to the weight of the ceramic materials in your hand, dominoes have very specific physical qualities inherent to them. "The clock wants to communicate these same qualities, from the materials down to the precise motion of the dots."



"If you imagine a domino scaled up to a foot tall, it would be quite heavy and have considerable inertia. The mechanism that creates the motion needs a sense of gravity to it to give the flip the feel of falling," says Sullivan. It was up to Eric Davis, one of Carbon’s mechanical engineers, to solve the challenge of creating a small mechanism that generated this slow movement, yet was very quiet. The additional challenge of powering thousands of transitions a day without burning through batteries meant Davis would need to design a custom actuator. Ultimately, he developed a mechanism that runs off a small, electromagnetic coil. "You might call it a ‘single-poled motor,’" says Davis. "The magnet and the iron move around the coil… opposite the way motors are usually designed." The device can be fine-tuned to get just the desired flip speed. And, best of all, power is only required to initiate the movement, and not while the device is in either the black or white resting state. A more detailed explanation and video demonstration of the Domino Clock proof of concept prototype is available on Carbon’s site.

Pentagram's Daniel Weil Designs A Clock For An Architect

Privately commissioned to create a gift for an architect, Daniel Weil created a one-of-a-kind clock that is both simple and complex. Reducing objects to their component parts has long fascinated Weil. The Radio in a Bag* he created for his degree show at the Royal College of Art three decades ago is an icon of 20th century industrial design. This clock is the latest demonstration of his interest in investigating not just how objects look, but how they work.




Constructed in ash and nickel-plated brass and silver, the clock is built of five separate elements. The numbers, both hours and minutes, are inscribed on the face and interior of a 9 3/4-inches diameter ring.




The mechanism for setting the time connects with the central mechanism with visible rubber belts.



A single AA battery provides power to the clock through visible power strips that are recessed in the assembly’s base. (Note the different screws that support the battery stand, keyed to the positive and negative poles of the power source.)



And, befitting the object’s recipient, the housing for the central mechanism takes the form of, literally, a house.




Daniel's sketches for the clock:






“Objects like clocks are both prosaic and profound,” says Weil. “Prosiac because of their ubiquity in everyday life, profound because of the mysterious nature of time itself. Time can be reduced to hours, minutes and seconds, just as a clock can be reduced to its component parts. This doesn’t explain time, but in a way simply exposes its mysterious essence.”

*

above: Daniel Weil. 'Radio in a bag', 1983. 28.5 x 20.6 c


above article and images via Pentagram

Link Love. Fabulousness Found Around.

• Living Design brings us a living portrait of Vincent Van Gogh with the make up and self-portrait of James Birkbeck:


• Abitare features "The Front Around The Clock" by Front Design for Porro:


• NOTCOT shares the beautiful branding and marketing extensions of Kraken Spiced Rum by Dead As We Know It:



• Oddity Central (via Neatorama) features the intricately carved books of Julia Feld:


• Yatzer brings us the Enignum Canopy Bed by Joseph Walsh:

A Carousel Clock & New Animal Jewelry from Hao Shi Design

Known mostly for their whimsical jewelry lines of rings and necklaces which pair sterling silver with white 3D animals, hao shi design studio of Taiwan has just come out with a moving tabletop clock shaped like a carousel, The Merry Go Round X Clock, and new double rings, the Crocodile 2X ring and the Hippo 2X ring.



The jewelry.
rings:



Their newest additions are these Animal rings that fit over two fingers:

shop their ring collections here.

necklaces:

shop for their necklaces here.

The Merry-Go-Round Clock



As described by hoa shi design:
The Merry Go Round clock connects time and memory by Merry-Go-Round. “Happiness” is the immediate feeling; however, “the memory of happiness” will extend to the infinity as time goes by. We therefore insert the element of time in this carousel.



A boy's vigorous movement is the second hand. The minute hand symbolizes a mother, who company with her child continually.


above: the numbers on the pillars represent the time.

The hour hand is like a father who steadily guards his family. The close relationships and interactions between them convert into the flow of time.




price $140.00, buy the clock here.




all of the above items can be purchased at the haoshi online store here.