Top 10 Clocks That Double As Art
- Words
- Anna Dorothea Ker
If what we choose to adorn our walls with speaks volumes about who we are, then every piece should count. That’s why we’re fans of decor that doubles in function. We’ve rounded up 10 of our favorite time pieces that are equally works of art: As aesthetically inspired as they are functional. These markers of time are ones we’re happy to keep glancing at again and again. For more clock and art inspiration, visit our shop.
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Made from three different circles – each representing one of the typical clock hands – the rotating ‘Orbits Clock’ brings time into another dimension – or at least, another dimension into charting time. Small gold indicators on each hand reveal the current time of day. Made from carbon fiber, the clock looks and feels almost weightless. Watch the clock in action and purchase it here.
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The ‘Manifold Clock’ explores the repetitive yet ever-changing nature of time. Two traditional hands are connected with a flexible sheet to create a 3D movement effect, thereby creating a new method of reading time that shifts every minute. See the clock in motion, and buy it here.
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VERONIKA SZALAI ‘NEW TIME’ WALL CLOCK
A nifty design masquerading in bed sheet packaging, this scrunchable timepiece is made from cotton fiber and metal, allowing the user to crumple it to their liking whilst retaining its function. See the full post about it on iGNANT here.
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SIRENE ELISE WILHELMSEN ‘365 KNITTING CLOCK’
The ingenious ‘365 Knitting Clock’ makes time tangible, one stitch per minute. After 356 days of knitting, the clock produces a 2-meter scarf. “Now the past can be carried out in the future and the upcoming year is hiding in a new spool of thread, still unknitted,“ Wilhelmsen explains poetically. See our full feature on the clock here.
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Mojoptix combined 3D printing with shadow to create a clever clock with a digital face. Printed with tiny holes, the plastic ‘arm’ of the sundial allows light to shine through, displaying the current hour on the ground. You can download the design files and print your own version, or purchase the complete device outright.
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Following his ‘Present‘ Kickstarter project, Scott Thrift created a clock face to ‘take the edge off passing time, simplifying a day into a perfect balance of dawn, noon, dusk and midnight.“ Designed to soothe the mind and even regulate sleep patterns, ‘Today’ – which was recently successfully funded on Kickstarter – can be pre-ordered here.
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“The moment we are stagnant staring, as if we are hypnotized thinking about the future or the past, we called ‘abstract view’,” explains product designer Daniel Duarte of his ‘Time Machine’ prototype, constructed from plastic and PVC. “The effect is achieved by an optical illusion which results from the constant superimposition and rotation of monochrome geometric shapes.” A mesmerizing addition to your wall indeed.
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Taking literally the old adage that time is money, design studio ATYPYK created a minimal ceramic clock that doubles as a piggy bank. “If you want to save money, then make sure you do it in time,” reads the product description. You don’t have to break the clock to release your savings, though – there’s a cap on the back for removing coins.
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Positioning itself as ‘the physical expression of our heartbeat’, ‘Uji’ embraces Zen philosophies of time to offer a meditative reflection on the present moment. According to the designers, the goal of Uji is to allow us “to understand ourselves as existing ‘for the time being’.”
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Designer Zelf Koelman used the material Ferro Fluid to create a clock with its own internal system of gravity and magnetic fields. Consisting of electromagnets that can be controlled via a web browser, ‘Ferrolic‘ is essentially programmable. To find out more about the highly intriguing and ongoing project, take a look at its microsite.
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