Top 10 steampunk designs
October 17, 2012
Tags: coffee, steampunk, katie thompson, smartphone, recreate, thomas heatherwick, truth, visi 62, xavier clarisse, laikingland, thinkorange, christopher jenner, roche bobois
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Light A Moment
The protective shell of this brass, glass and ceramic candle lantern is opened with a winding mechanism. Inside, the candle is reflected 1 000 times in the mirrors! By Dutch designers Joost van Bleiswijk and Kiki van Eijk for Laikingland.
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Sensorial steampunk
Emboldening a futuristic vision of Victorian with eye-popping colour and textural details is the interior of the Diptyque Paris perfume boutique in London, designed by UK-based South African designer Christopher Jenner.
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Bottom-up
Oversized library cabinets shooting skyward are furnished with multi-layered classic mouldings and fitted with secret cupboards in English brass, stained glass fret work and magical mirror.
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Time machine
The Carlex car interior design studio in Poland boast that they go beyond upholstery – the understatement of the century when you see the MiniSteam, which was custom-pimped for the owner of steampunk restaurant in Poland.
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Handcrafted future
Because Steampunk is all about realism, most elements of the interior in the MiniSteam were made of real copper, brass, wood and hand-stitched leather. The air bag was also replaced with a XIX century clock mechanism.
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Curling walkway
Architect Thomas Heatherwick needed to design a bridge for pedestrians, which would also give way for boats. Photo: Steve Heller.
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Scorpion tail
He decided to make the movement of the Rolling Bridge in London extraordinary. Photo: Steve Heller.
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Reeled in
Comprising eight segments and using hydraulic rams, the bridge can roll into a perfect circle. Photo: Steve Heller
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Mechanical protea
Hosted in the Moses Mabhida Stadium is French-born, Durban-based designer Xavier Clarisse’s King Protea kinetic sculpture. Working like the aperture of a camera, the flower moves through all its life stages as its dial turns. Photo: Andrew Griffin.
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Tangible smartphone
Turn your smartphone into an old-school dial-up with two interchangeable brass dials, a true rotary dial and a button dial.
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Techno nostalgia
Conceived by New Zealand designer Richard Clarkson, the physical interface design considers what is lost in the digital take-over of everything in our lives.
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Lights camera action
Cape Town’s own Katie Thompson has a magical collection of remixed vintage furniture designs in her Recreate studio and showroom. A standout steampunk piece is this client-commissioned standing lamp made from a photo enlarger.
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Keeping time
The Amazing Mechanical Pomodoro is an iPhone time-management app by ThinkOrange. With impeccable steampunk styling, we can’t decide if it’s old-fashioned or futuristic, which is probably why we need handheld time management!
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Miniscule mechanical
Inspired by the Victorian era, Polish craftsman Szymon Klimek makes miniscule brass machines often small enough to fit into a wine glass.
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Sun powered
Adding the futuristic element that makes Victorian into steampunk are the tiny solar panels that power the machines.
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Wind-up table
The Astrolab by Studio Roche Bobois in Paris is a reinforced glass table with remote-controlled extensions operated by a cog mechanism. Visible beneath the glass, the smooth-motioned giant clockwork is a mesmerising piece of engineering.
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In the SPRING FLING edition of VISI we featured the new steampunk-themed Truth HQ coffee bistro in Cape Town. Since it was such a popular article, VISI has scoured the web to bring you the best steampunk flavoured design, from a car to a bridge and a smartphone too.
Browse the pictures above and use the links below for more information.
Carlex Design, www.carlex.pl
Laikingland, www.laikingland.co.uk
Roche Bobois, www.roche-bobois.com
Thomas Heatherwick, www.heatherwick.com
ThinkOrange, www.thinkorange.pt
Katie Thompson’s Recreate, www.recreate.za.net
Xavier Clarisse, clarissedesign.com
Christopher Jenner, www.christopher-jenner.com
Szymon Klimek, www.byk01051953.user.icpnet.pl
Richard Clarkson, richardclarkson.com
See our full steampunk report here.
More from the SPRING FLING edition of VISI
- New and second-cycle
Renovation and interior design is seldom a stagnant, once-off affair. The best spaces grow into themselves. See the before pictures of the houses featured in the magazine.
- Deft blue strokes
Fabric, surfboards, shacks… Something is afoot, and not just in South Africa! From Babylonstoren to Russia, browse our full Delft trend report.
- Popcorn architecture
We have inspiration from the Architecture ZA 2012 Biennial Festival to share. Watch our online film festival and read our report back.
- Mechanical futurism
Some say steampunk is what happened when Goths discovered brown. Others say it grew out of a literary genre. Explore our steampunk trend report.
- Joburg Art Attack
For at least one week in September, Joburg was hit by an art attack. Read the post-mortem and our guide to starting an art collection, written by the experts.
- Winning wishes
In October, Warren Lewis will be giving away four paintings. Up for grabs over October and November is a Bodum Bistro Coffee Maker from Banks Kitchen Boutique. Enter the competitions here.
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