North Coast Imports, Inc.

L'Epee 1839 has done it again. A collaboration was formed between the legendary clockmaker and the Van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. L'Epee presents its masterpieces as a Fantasia on the work of the Dutch visionary.   The opening exhibition of this collection will make its full debut at The Gallery by the Harbour from 6th May, 2016 to 29th May, 2016, approved and endorsed by the curators of the Van Gogh Museum. Van Gogh Art de Sweets, the first Van Gogh F&B brand in the world, will also make its debut in Hong Kong during the exhibition. Visitors can assimilate into Van Gogh’s world, savoring the timeless enchantment of Van Gogh’s artwork. Click Here for more Information (PDF).

Do you know the artist Jean Kazes ? Every connoisseur of horology should. His works are beyond impressive... Did you know that North Coast Imports has one of his creations in the USA available for purchase? Ask your favorite clock dealer about it. You can find more info here: Here's a translation from his website : Born in 1930 , he trained as a precision mechanic and a teaching degree technique. He exercises for many years the profession of machine builder then acquire a degree in mechanical engineering . The trigger occurs when a friend asked if he can repair his Morbier , virus and watch the attrapât and never leave again. He decides to use the mechanics of these clocks that have crossed centuries to create timeless works of art . It is so invested in this passion that his whole soul spring in its work to find her real style that transforms a simple clock mechanical sculpture of unique beauty . His training as a mechanical engineer allows him to control t...

I love Dug North's Blog . In case you don't already follow it, here are some noteworthy recent posts - for lovers of clocks and mechanical automata. Here's a beautiful and artistic piece from Levi van Veluw An analog clock in a digital world : This eye-boggling piece was recently featured in Clocks Magazine . Another book for your library... The mechanical clock, at least in the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, with its rational design and regular running, demonstrated an orderliness lacking in almost every aspect of life at that time. The clock came to offer an explanation for the mysterious workings of the cosmos: living creatures were in fact automata, and the universe itself was an enormous clockwork... Another great clockwork sculpture: There is truly some fascinating and beautiful stuff out there.  Follow this blog and Dug's blog for constant updates on the world of clockwork art!

Meet Bret Thorne, a kinetic sculpturer that makes fantastic clockwork creations! Go to his website and check out some videos and fascinating descriptions. Including this one... The most primitive computer is comprised of only two parts and from these two parts we can create all others. Those two parts are memory and a comparator. Some may claim that any practical computer must also have input and output, but that just is memory, or registers, memory again, or an ALU, nope that's a comparator.  We can further delineate memory into two types, read-only and read-write. We need the read-write type of memory to store temporary values for comparison. For example, read-write memory could be a toggle or counter. Read-only memory is convenient for storing tables or a program, however these two examples are symbolic and not necessary for computation. An example of read-only memory is pegs in a disc, where the presents of a peg represents a symbol. The true heart of a compute...

Here's an interesting interface designed by programmer Trammell Hudson of NYC Resistor. He's got all kinds of new designs for his hackable watch on his Flickr feed. It's great to see all of the new ideas for horology coming from such a wide pool of expertise. Via Makezine : Trammell Hudson of NYC Resistor designed an interface a day for his hackable inPulse watch. He has a lot of great ones but I really like his Conway’s Game of Life interface from Day 24. Today I had to work late, so the watch is not really finished. It borrows the game of life code from a previous watch and tries to work the time display into the game grid. Perhaps with a better font this would have worked better; maybe make the 7 into a glider and have some other interesting shapes in the characters.

We're pleased to introduce a new type of clock. As always, North Coast Imports is exploring new ideas in artistic horology. At the nexus between home design, horology, sculpture, and fashion you’ll find Sasa, a fresh expression of passing time. Rather than letting time control your life with schedules and limits, Sasa allows a more peaceful reminder of the flow of time. Each five minutes another bead clicks down. You can tell the hours by counting the number of colored beads that have fallen, and the minutes with the lighter beads. Tired of the reminder? Take the beads down and wear them as a necklace. Sasa, in Kiswahili culture, means “What is now.” By minimizing the focus on each minute that has past or is to come, we can instead live in the present. Visit our website for more information on these new and exciting clocks!

Crafter Mezcraft did a great Instructable on building this edible delight. Here's what she has to say: Over the past year I have been brainstorming about what I would do this year and what I am came up with was a Gingerbread Cuckoo clock with working gears. I couldn't get this idea out of my head and so I went forward and began planning and figuring this out! I have never actually made anything with gears before, so I will talk about how I tried to figure this out and my trials and tribulations in the process.

As always, we're scouring the internets to find you the most interesting postings of fascinating automata! [via Kugelbahn ] [via io9 ]

[via Make ]

The clock tower seems to be modeled after the Prague Clock. [via Automaton Blog ]

We've had The Invention of Hugo Cabret on our reading list for a while now. Good news is that Martin Scorcese is working on a movie adaptation! It's a story about a mechanical automaton, and a loose narrative on the life of Georges Méliès. [via io9 ]

Here's a beautiful image, by Todd Mclellan , of a vintage alarm clock - all apart. From GraphicHug : Todd Mclellan has been creating compelling images ever since his days in kindergarten fingerpainting class. Check out more on his site, plus a video !

Embroidery and knitting are experiencing a resurgence in popularity - especially among young people. We were glad to see that the cuckoo clock theme is included in this fun! It would be great to see something with a real cuckoo clock movement. If you're out there crafters, let us know if you'll accept the challenge! Make a knitted or embroidered, or otherwise stitched cuckoo with a bird that comes out and calls. [via Little Dear Tracks ]

Nemo Gould does some beautiful and interesting work in automata. You can watch him document his creations on his blog. [Via target="_blank">Nemomatic]

Have you heard about Boilerplate ? A fantastic historical discovery has been made! From Boilerplate's website : Boilerplate was a mechanical man developed by Professor Archibald Campion during the 1880s and unveiled at the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition. Built in a small Chicago laboratory, Boilerplate was a prototype soldier built for "preventing the deaths of men in the conflicts of nations". Although it was the only such prototype, Boilerplate was eventually able to exercise its proposed function in several combat actions. Boilerplate embarked on a series of expeditions to demonstrate its abilities, the most ambitious being a voyage to Antarctica. Boilerplate is one of history's great ironies, a technological milestone that remains largely unknown. Note: Although we are reasonably sure that (overall) this blog is pretty factual, we definitely make no guarantees on this particular post :)

One of the great things about collecting clocks is that you have an artifact of history - in this way, you can participate in some of the most important developments in the human experience. This blog has always focused on timekeeping, as well as mechanical musical devices and automata, but I wanted to take the space of a short post to pass on this image. It struck me as a ghostly presence, a window into history. This is a photograph of Boulevard du Temple in Paris was made in 1838 by Louis Daguerre, inventor of the daguerreotype process of photography. It is likely the first photograph of a human being. Just think of it - 1838 - well before the American Civil War, well before the American transcontinental railroad... it's hard to imagine what life was like at that time, so it's a real treat to have an actual photograph. [via designcrave.com ]

Thanks to Juan Pablo Cambariere's comment we have a new video of his exhibition of Automata: Siete Ejercicios Básicos from Juan Pablo Cambariere on Vimeo .

Via the Automaton Blog ... ...from an exhibition by artist Juan Pablo Cambariere. The Ethiopian Caterpillar from Hodinkee on Vimeo . ...from Henri Maillardet , circa 1820.

Traditional, mechanical clocks have brought life to homes and galleries for hundreds of years. Over time they have evolved into a role of more than a functional tool. More than a passive wall covering, clocks have become important and exciting Objets d’ Art in the modern home. These pieces are kinetic sculptures that also happen to tell time. A young group of Black Forest artists are interested in exploring their regional icon, the cuckoo clock, and allowing it to evolve into modernity. North Coast Imports is proud to distribute these creations, and we've devoted an entire separate website to the hundreds of / design clocks available. There are a few standard clocks available, and there are also hundreds of one-of-a-kind pieces where the artists have used these base models as their canvas to create new expressions in Black Forest Clock Art. We've just uploaded pictures of dozens more NEW models that were recently created. Be sure to check out www.NorthCoastImports.com/desi...

Here are some more cool automata found on the internets... SHARMANKA (Russian for hurdy-gurdy) was founded by sculptor-mechanic Eduard Bersudsky and theatre director Tatyana Jakovskaya in St.Petersburg (Russia) in 1989. Audiences in many countries have been fascinated by its magic, and based in Glasgow since 1996 it has gained a reputation as one of the city's hidden treasures.