Gizmodo: craftsmanship

PC Made of Redwood Gives Us Wood

Charlie White — Wed, 04 Apr 2007 14:30:00 EDT

We've seen PC cases, peripherals, and lots of other electronic devices made of wood before, but this redwood PC case, keyboard, mouse and monitor take the new crown as the best yet. We noticed, too, that the maker of this PC case has taken ventilation into account, with slots on the two visible sides, and probably more on the other two as well.

This matched set (see the other pieces in the gallery below) was hand carved by a Russian master craftsman for a client in Moscow, and his company offers to hand-build whatever technological casing or object you'd like. For instance, send a photograph of the rest of your furniture, and he'll make a computer case to match.

No word on pricing, but we like to see the commodity status of the PC elevated by skilled craftsmanship such as this. Bravo. – Charlie White

Product Page [via Treehugger]

Handmade Wooden-Skinned Car Is a Craftsman's Masterpiece

Charlie White — Tue, 13 Mar 2007 14:48:46 EDT

The Tryane II is an example of fine craftsmanship by a guy who is aptly named Friend Wood. He spent 2000 hours building the car; a key part of that process involved gluing and stapling together strips of mahogany veneer, and then buffing it to a mirror-like finish.

It's gorgeous, and weighs just 900 pounds. It actually has an internal combustion engine inside that's said to be capable of 70 to 90 miles per gallon. Wouldn't that be a fire hazard? And, we'd hate to see what would happen if this thing got into an accident, splintering up like so many pieces of balsa wood.

But those practical considerations are beside the point. The car will probably end up functioning as a really unusual, one-of-a-kind coffee table, or at least in a coffee table book. – Charlie White

How he did it [Friend Wood, via Born Rich]

Suissa Computers: All-Wood Cases Elevate PCs to the Heirloom Level

Charlie White — Fri, 29 Sep 2006 09:54:19 EDT

Some of us banish our PCs to the basement, running long cables to them and keeping them and their noise away from us, but not Suissa Computers. Canadian designer Howard Suissa elevates the PC and its case to a level that almost resembles worship.

"A Suissa Computer is meant to become an heirloom and the system can be upgraded when technology changes. The computer will not have to be thrown away in exchange for improved technology."

What elegant craftsmanship! The PCs look like fine hand-made guitars. Even though Suissa assumes that after a few years the components will be updated, he hasn't skimped on its present contents, stuffing it with six hard drives, liquid cooling and even a chrome-plated power supply. The model above is called "Fire@Will," see pics of three more of his graceful creations, after the jump. – Charlie White

Suissa Computers: Powerful, Beautiful and (sort of) Green [treehugger]

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