The Wonderful Possibilities Of Blending Function And Art
This is a website that I stumbled across today, that I just had to share with you. It is the SteamPunk Workshop, where one guy builds some beautiful creations from current and past technology.
As Wikipedia defines it, Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. And so, the basic gist of the Steampunk genre is that everything (vehicles, computers, robots, etc.) is steam powered, and they look as though they use the technology and styling of the Victorian era. If you have seen 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Back To The Future Part III, Steamboy, Howl's Moving Castle, or Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow, for example, you have seen a bit of what it is about.
While it isn't generally practical to build actual steam-driven devices, you can modify the devices around you to resemble an object from a steampunk world. This is what this gentleman has done, and I think he has done an excellent job of it. I would like to point you to his The SteamPunk Workshop Monitor Mod. Here, he has taken an LCD computer monitor and converted it over to look like a 19th century piece.
This may not be something that just anyone would want to attempt, but it is an important reminder that cheap plastic is not the end-all be-all of enclosures or case design. We tend to live in a Wal-mart kind of culture these days where we don't care so much what it looks like as long as it is cheap and it works. Or, there are those of us that want to have a nice high-tech device, such as a new HDTV, but because it doesn't fit into their decor, they then hide it in a big wooden cabinet behind big wooden doors. This goes to show that, when it is done right, technology can have both a lovely form and total functionality.
Be sure to peruse the other projects on the site, such as the keyboard mod and the steampunk guitar. Now, where did I put my can of Brasso.....
Posted by PH on 06-26-2007 01:41:49 CST
As Wikipedia defines it, Steampunk is a subgenre of fantasy and speculative fiction which came into prominence in the 1980s and early 1990s. The term denotes works set in an era or world where steam power is still widely used—usually the 19th century, and often set in Victorian era England—but with prominent elements of either science fiction or fantasy, such as fictional technological inventions like those found in the works of H. G. Wells, or real technological developments like the computer occurring at an earlier date. And so, the basic gist of the Steampunk genre is that everything (vehicles, computers, robots, etc.) is steam powered, and they look as though they use the technology and styling of the Victorian era. If you have seen 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea, Back To The Future Part III, Steamboy, Howl's Moving Castle, or Sky Captain And The World Of Tomorrow, for example, you have seen a bit of what it is about.
While it isn't generally practical to build actual steam-driven devices, you can modify the devices around you to resemble an object from a steampunk world. This is what this gentleman has done, and I think he has done an excellent job of it. I would like to point you to his The SteamPunk Workshop Monitor Mod. Here, he has taken an LCD computer monitor and converted it over to look like a 19th century piece.
This may not be something that just anyone would want to attempt, but it is an important reminder that cheap plastic is not the end-all be-all of enclosures or case design. We tend to live in a Wal-mart kind of culture these days where we don't care so much what it looks like as long as it is cheap and it works. Or, there are those of us that want to have a nice high-tech device, such as a new HDTV, but because it doesn't fit into their decor, they then hide it in a big wooden cabinet behind big wooden doors. This goes to show that, when it is done right, technology can have both a lovely form and total functionality.
Be sure to peruse the other projects on the site, such as the keyboard mod and the steampunk guitar. Now, where did I put my can of Brasso.....