North Coast Imports, Inc.

From MB&F : The spectator looking at Standard Time does not only see the time, but also people constructing it. People who, with a stoic sense of duty, are wasting time on an apparently useless activity that fulfills only one function: to display time. Even though the workers are trying hard to construct every single minute, they are constantly on the verge of failing.

To continue our theme on automata and automatic devices to enhance your lifestyle, check out this concept: This is Xirrou, the painting robot, which is the brainchild of Austrian industrial designer, Christian Gumpold. From MB&F : Xirrou is a 2-part artificial intelligent robotic system. The first component features a stamp on its lower side that measures 16 square-centimeters, allowing it to print artwork to the walls and ceilings. The second component of Xirrou carries 8 ink cartridges on its back and is hooked to the first half via an ink-supplying cable. Imagine scanning some photos for your new mood, or your new idea of what your room should look like this season, and the robot goes to work. These spider-like contraptions will skitter across your wall bringing you new color to your room.

There are some interesting mechanical sculptures on the website of Edmund Dohnert . He has a style reminiscent of the Futurists of the early 20th Century. Here's a preview picture: [via The Automata / Automation Blog ]

Machines that Almost Fall Over from Michael Kontopoulos on Vimeo . We've often referred to our mechanical clocks as "kinetic sculpture." Here's a look at some of the abstract work in kinetic sculpture. From the artist M. KONTOPOULOS : A system of sculptures that is constantly on the brink of collapse. My intention was to capture and sustain the exact moment of impending catastrophe and endlessly repeat it. [via Rhizome ]

We've posted about the Jaques-Droz automata before. Here is a modern interpretation! From MB&F : The masterpiece is housed in an unusual cage, whose aluminium frame is fitted with a liquid crystal glass, allowing the owner to mask or unveil the whole movement at will. A light touch activates the mechanism and a stylus writes the time in hours and minutes.

This is part of the Black Forest exhibition at the Expo in Shanghai. Notice all the Romba clocks! Here are some more pictures of the installation and behind the curtain. The clock in the center is by Stefan Strumbel (who's clocks have been featured on the blogosphere quite a lot lately) and the rest are from our Romba! Be sure and check out our websites for more information on these clocks. www.northcoastimports.com www.northcoastimports.com/design

Here's a random find on Flickr: Via The Design Inspiration

You knew it was only a matter of time. This cuckoo clock calls whenever he is tweeted from Twitter. Plus, you can read the Tweet and past Tweets on the touchscreen. Twitwee Clock from Haroon Baig on Vimeo . From Heidelberg-based designer Haroon Baig . Via Wired Check out OUR novelty, battery-operated cuckoos!

Here's an interesting article from the Long Now Blog . John Goodman is an engineer that admires intuition, a reluctant artist who enjoys elegant approximations. His best known creation, The Annosphere , was recently showcased at the Cambridge Science Festival in Massachusetts, where he lives and works. The Annosphere is emblematic of what Mr. Goodman calls an intuitive grasp of time – time that is told by instinct, season and cultural benchmark, rather than being parceled out in minutes and seconds. He tells an illustrative story: Once, in a hotel in Europe, he noticed that the shower knob was demarcated in degree readings. He got to musing on the fact that he had no idea, in degrees, how hot he liked his shower. “The shower had degree readings on the knob, but who knows the exact temperature they like their shower? The right way to set a shower is where it’s comfortable, the right way to measure time is the same.” From the Annosphere website : Time goes both too slowly and too qui...

Followers of North Coast Imports know that we are pleased as punch to be introducing an entirely new line of cuckoo clocks in our /design series . These clocks are a marriage of fine tradition with fine arts (and design). We are even planning an ancillary exhibition tour of artworks by the Black Forest artists who are responsible for creating these clocks. It's good to see that we are not alone in creating a body of artistic work centered around the cuckoo clock. I recently read about The Bird House , a one-act play by Kate Marks receiving its world premiere at Theatre Three. "The play's action begins in a brightly colored tree house in a land called The Bright Side where Louisy (Cotton Wright) and Syl (Christina Shipp) live in a sheltered ignorance that is decidedly not bliss. Initially, the primary source of their anxiety is that the two birds in their cuckoo clock (named "Cuck" and "Koo") can't be made to stay any longer than it takes for the...

This is even cuter, if not a little dangerous. "Performance commissioned by Kalmar Museum of Art, Sweden. During the inauguration of the new art museum in Kalmar a suspicious individual sneaked around the premises mounting sculptures made of carrots, alarm clocks, red and blue cables, metal wire and tape. On direct orders from the Swedish secret police the performance was stopped since the Culture Minister refused to give her inaugural speech if it were to continue. The speech , as it later turned out, was about how art must be allowed to be free and provocative." via [Bunny Project]