“Pneu,” decorative tire (tyre) art hand-carved by Wim Delvoye

spherical sculptures made with found objects by Nick Sayers

(first discovered via Make)

Forever Marilyn

A giant sculpture of Marilyn Monroe has been unveiled in Chicago. The 26-foot tall public art piece commemorates Monroe’s iconic pose from the 1955 film, The Seven Year Itch. “Forever Marilyn” is part of the Icons series by sculptor J. Seward Johnson.

(via kuriositas, above photo taken by Joshua Mellin)

book carvings by Kylie Stillman

(first discovered via Inhabitat)

Diem Chau’s custom carved crayon family portrait to help raise money for the Japanese Red Cross Society.

“Read Cursive” book origami by Isaac Salazar
(first discovered via Recylart)

The New York Times has a great slideshow for “Books as a Way to Grace a Room” in conjunction with a somewhat troubling article for book jacket designers, “Selling a Book by Its Cover.” The feature discusses assembling and designing custom libraries by Thatcher Wine of Juniper Books (which usually involves conforming the original cover designs to fit a theme). This is where I found the exceptional work of Federico Uribe who finds inspiration and materials from Wonder Book and discarded text books in Miami-Dade County schools. When I lived in Miami for most of my life, I didn’t have enough imagination…

I very recently spotted bestselling hardcover books (that were published less than a year ago) in the dollar bin at a flea market. It saddens me that in this digital age many regard printed books the same as other disposable paper ephemera.

detail of Hazel Tree book-cut sculpture by Su Blackwell

Torsten Slama sculpture from the Koln Sculpture Garden in Germany
(first discovered from a photo via Kristy Foom)

book sculptures by Jacqueline Rush Lee
(first discovered via Fubiz)

“Joining Forces: James Joyce vs The 3D Agency”
(via Creative Review)

Book Lamp designed by Myung-seo Kang
(via Moco Loco, spotted at ICFF 2010)

redesignrelated:

The Tony Award trophy gets a redesign (spoof)

“…The Tony statue, designed by Herman Rosse in 1949, is a pedestal with a hanging medallion that is etched on one side with the masks of comedy and tragedy and on the other with the profile of the actress and director Antoinette Perry, the award’s namesake and a founder of the American Theater Wing…Concepts for the New Tony varied wildly: Milton Glaser’s squat figure, Jonathan Adler’s golden banana, Winterhouse’s applause sign with audio…” —excerpt from And the Banana Goes To…  article in NYT

We really like the humor in Milton Glaser’s new ‘Tony’ design and the bold “Applause” trophy by Jessica Helfand & Knowlton (Winterhouse) , and Pensa presents a beautiful concept.

(slide show featuring all 6 of The New Tony designs via NYTimes.com)

Q&A with Stephen Doyle and a look at his paper sculptures
(via Felt & Wire)