Materials: nails, digital clock, metal housing, chrome chain, dead bird. Yes, DEAD BIRD. The folks over at The Watchismo Times have pointed out this one-of-a-kind timepiece. Designer Michael Sans has a unique — to say the least — take on the traditional German cuckoo clock.

The off-handed humor of his rendition is undoubtedly awesome, although the creep factor takes a huge step up when you take into account that the bird has been virtually crucified — not literally, as Sans maintains the bird died of natural causes — on the chrome nails. That is, of course, once you get past the simple fact that there’s a dead bird on your wall. Unfortunately Sans’ design isn’t for sale, but I’m sure if you collaborated with the local taxidermist and watch repair shop, you could probably cobble together something of your own.

Ontour, our nutty Dutch friends are at it again with their Fall/Winter Collection called Hide Ontour. This season features a winter jacket (an Ontour first), some killer knitted sweaters, scarves, and a stellar set of t-shirts for both guys and dolls alike. The ingenuity and humor behind this Dutch brand never seizes to amaze me. Pop by their site to see the entire look book of the new collection– great stuff guys.

This is sweet: a chest-of-drawers turned chest-of-briefcases, ready for immediate removal/use by jetsetters, drug lords, and superheroes. Called the Take Out, this modifiable storage system was born in 2003, after designer Klaus Aalto found himself needing a storage solution of tools. After popping a Plasticase briefcase into an outer shell made of MDF board, aluminum shelves, and steel legs, Klaus thought he might be on to something — a sentiment I wholeheartedly agree with, and one that should have reached some sort of fruition now that it’s 2007 (I can’t find these for sale, but neither do I speak Finnish, which is impeding my search). There are prototypes — which is a good sign — but if you lack the patience for mass production, this might be a good idea for a weekend man-project (or woman-project… you know what I mean).

Need a break from your mundane day or week? Feel like crawling under your desk and hiding for a while? Maybe Tod Kapke’s work will brighten things up a bit; an illustrator and photographer based who knows where (anybody?), Tod’s work covers an immense visual range, from high-key studio shots to outdoor nitty-gritty city shots that look to be taken with a either a Holga or an older medium format camera. His sense of humor, a little on the darker side at some points, shines through as well.

Things get even wackier when you dig into his illustration section — I’m particularly fond of the oddball shriner meets teddybear moment in the fifth shot in. Perhaps the most interesting part of Tod’s website, though, is the process section. Meant to be a look behind the scenes of how some of Tod’s shots were created, his process comes across in true artistic fashion, leaving me somewhere between “what the heck is that?” and “excuse me, I’d like to borrow an ounce of genius please…”

Peel, the Houston boutique/gallery established in 2005, is hosting a new group exhibition featuring the work of graduates of the Royal College of Art. UK Design opens next Friday, September 7th, and will feature the ceramics, jewelry, and product designs of Bethan Lloyd Worthington, Geoffrey Mann, Jorre van Ast, and Ambre France (you’ve seen her here before). Each of the artist’s individual work is worthy of a visit (making all their work together seriously deserving), so do your best to make it to the exhibit, which runs through October 6th…or even to the opening reception (September 7th; 6:30pm until 9:00 pm at Peel). Also, we’d love to hear about it, so if you go, come back here and share your thoughts! Full flyer after the jump.

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This isn’t a drastically belated post about the Beautiful Losers exhibit. It’s not even a post about the book (which I hope to death you all have, because it is amazing — amazing); this post is about the film documentary, which is coming to us April of 2008. Originally started as the film component to the Beautiful Losers exhibition, Beautiful Losers — the doc — will feature a ton of the same artists as the book, with the added benefit of the intimacies so innate to film. Directed by Aaron Rose, the film will introduce viewers to Alleged Gallery and many of the early founders of the DIY subcultures that are so influential today; Ed Templeton, Margaret Kilgallen, Mike Mills, and plenty more key members of the early 1990’s punk, skateboarding, surf, hip hop and graffiti scene will make appearances in the film, drawing parallels between the artists of yesterday and the today’s youth.

Oh dear Lord, I can’t wait. We’ll keep you posted with developments; until then, it might help to watch this page at Behance Network.