Enchanting floating ships by Italian Architect Luigi Prina

Italian architect Luigi Prina has been interested in aircraft modelling since a very young age. However, it was only after he met Venetian painter and boat builder Eugenio Tomiolo that he started to create flying ship models from ultra-thin paper and balsa wood inspired after Roman, Greek and Viking designs. His collection (or fleet) ofContinue reading “Enchanting floating ships by Italian Architect Luigi Prina”

Eerie and Glorious Fake Cities Left Empty in China

“Entire townships and villages appear to have been airlifted from their historical and geographical foundations in England, France, Greece, the United States, and Canada and spot-welded to the margins of Chinese cities,” according to Bianca Bosker, author of Original Copies: Architectural Mimicry in Contemporary China. Tianducheng:  A Fake Parisian Wonder Originally conceived as an homageContinue reading “Eerie and Glorious Fake Cities Left Empty in China”

Tiny building sites: It’s a small world after all

Readers of this blog will understand and share my obsession with small-scale buildings, tiny books, paper towns and jewelry boxes and boudoir ornaments for mermaids. These quirky art forms are uncannily beautiful in their falseness. They also make Mini Materials now offers lovers of miniature the unprecedented opportunity to build their own life-like models ofContinue reading “Tiny building sites: It’s a small world after all”

Drew Leshko’s dollhouse replicas of vanishing Philadelphia streets

Drew Leshko is a Philadelphia, Pennsylvania-based artist who creates micro, 1:12 anatomically correct architectural pieces of his own neighbourhood, replete with grime and imperfections. This is the rarely glimpsed side of Philadelphia, one that is slowly dissappearing as economic progress spurs forth more modern streetscapes, agreeable to modern design conventions. Leshko’s three dimensional archive ofContinue reading “Drew Leshko’s dollhouse replicas of vanishing Philadelphia streets”

Federico Babina: Famous fairytales reimagined as buildings

Insanely creative Italian architect and illustrator Federico Babina has immortalised artists, musicians, films and even countries as mid-century buildings, but he has turned his hand towards fairytales in this collection. The fairytale universe is reinvented to incorporate elements of timeless 50’s and 60’s building design so that it imparts personality and new dimension to theContinue reading “Federico Babina: Famous fairytales reimagined as buildings”

Travel: A summer trip to the Renaissance fortress and city of Zamość

We visited Zamość Fortress (Polish: Twierdza Zamość) and town on one of those perfect Polish summer days where the sun and heat pelted down and made everything bright and vivid. Locals and visitors in this far south eastern city of Poland seemed to have a spring in their step on this fine day and everyoneContinue reading “Travel: A summer trip to the Renaissance fortress and city of Zamość”

The Post-Apocalyptic Underground Lunchroom

One of the more quirky destinations in New Mexico is Carlsbad Caverns. Located 228 metres below the surface is a diner/lunchroom that is frozen in the middle of the 20th century. The eatery sells cold cuts and food stuffs that don’t require cooking (as they don’t have cooking facilities), along with souvenirs. Over the ensuingContinue reading “The Post-Apocalyptic Underground Lunchroom”