For many, the Olympic Cauldron was the highlight of last night’s Opening Ceremony for the 2012 Olympics in London. Designed by Thomas Heatherwick, the cauldron represented the climax of the opening ceremony and remained the Olympic’s best-kept secret until last night’s unveiling. The cauldron featured 204 copper petals, each representing one of the competing…
Some you’ll love, some you’ll detest and others you can only hope nobody has ever slipped and hurt themselves! Below is a gallery of unique and creative staircase designs. Not necessarily the most beautiful or functional, just a collection of interesting concepts that push the boundaries of staircase design into bold and often handrail-less…
Artwork by Horst Glaesker | Photograph by Frizztext on Flickr In the city of Wuppertal, located in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany, lies a set of 112 steps known as the Holsteiner stairs. In 2006/2008, German artist Horst Glaesker applied acrylic paint (of seemingly every color) to each step. One color per step with a…
Recently awarded the ‘Best Tall Building in the Americas for 2012‘ by the CTBUH (Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat), the Absolute Towers by Ma Yansong of MAD Architects is a curvaceous beauty. Located in Mississauga, Canada (a suburb of Toronto), the two recently completed towers are the city’s most iconic buildings. Full…
The Sifter has already featured the clever illustration work of Glenn Jones before (see here and here). In this installment, we check out the latest work from the last 12 months by the New Zealand artist known as Glennz. As usual, the illustrations below are available on his website as t-shirts. Be sure to…
David Habben is an artist and illustrator in Salt Lake City, Utah. Born in Oregon and raised in Idaho, David uses both traditional and digital media to create his wonderful illustrations. For his series entitled Shapes of Conscious, it all starts with a simple shape… Habben explains: “With this sketchbook, I’ve been challenging my…
The Leaning Tower of Pisa is the freestanding bell tower of the cathedral of the Italian city of Pisa. It is situated behind the Cathedral and is the third oldest structure in Pisa’s Cathedral Square (Piazza del Duomo) after the Cathedral and the Baptistry. The height of the tower is 55.86…
All across America people celebrated Independence Day, commonly known as the Fourth of July. In the United States it’s a federal holiday that commemorates the signing of the Declaration of Independence on July 4, 1776, declaring independence from the Kingdom of Great Britain. The Fourth of July has a strong association with fireworks. All…
Artwork by Zhao Huasen Artwork by Zhao Huasen Artwork by Zhao Huasen Artwork by Zhao Huasen Artwork by Zhao Huasen Artwork by Zhao Huasen In the series entitled Floating, Chinese artist Zhao Huasen took seemingly mundane photographs of people in China riding their…
Artist, illustrator and toy designer Jason Freeny has recently completed his trio of LEGO man dissections. Each figure stands 18 inches tall (45.7 cm) and they are awesome. Jason has documented the process in a fantastic 95 picture photo album on his Facebook page. Below is a brief overview of the build process but…