Jared Tarbell‘s cube echoes everything we can organize and understand–until we look closer, and contemplation of it returns us to the dream.
Either that, or someone ressurected Tycho Brahe, got him drunk, and sat him at a CNC.
Lasercut from walnut, hand-assembled, finished with flax seed oil (and other mysterious, and perhaps even magical, ingredients). This is a prototype he made for an upcoming related series still a work in progress.
This photo really doesn’t do it justice, as it’s so much more “alive” in person. (fault my photography, not the cube) Despite it’s digital origins, it comes across as very “old-world-y”, extremely tangible and approachable, it practically begs me to explore it. Exquisite.
See the die-cut original here.
Jared’s Cube [Dave Bollinger's Flickr]
It might be fun to see a papercraft version of this.
But certainly not fun to make one.
That reminds me of a “Turner’s Cube”, a kind of nested gradual receeding circle cut into a steel cube (or other polyhedron) on a lathe, except he cheated, and just glued cut sides around the cube.
Still, once you realize it’s not an actual Turner’s Cube, it’s really pretty. Like a sponge in a Hypercube, or something. Trippy.
Possibly related:
http://www1.zetosa.com.pl/burczyk/origami/g2-03-en.htm
Origami Menger sponge!
Warning: May attract Cenobites.
I want to get one of these, set it on my desk and stare into the chasm of it’s finely crafted nooks until I’m transported to another dimension.
And if you put your fingers in the holes in the right order, Pinhead shows up and takes you to hell.
This is the most pompous, pretentious description of a knick-knack that I’ve seen in ages.
Thank you! We do try.
It’s alright, but it doesn’t look old-world-y to me. It looks like a bunch of laser-cut pieces of wood stuck together. Instead of a box joint, something actually 3-dimensional like a dovetail or twisted dovetail would be significantly cooler. Old world craftsmen used joints that had mechanical strength.
Damn that’s gonna get dusty.
Amplifier:
Perfect! Stick the nozzle of a compressed air can into one of the holes, and—WHOOMP!
I’ve seen one of these (but spherical) made out of a solid piece of handcarved (in the 17 or 1800s) whalebone…I think at the Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, MA. I daresay it was cooler.