back to article Damien Hirst, eat your heart out - these guys chop up TAXIS

Yes, it’s that time of year again when the design world presents its latest creations. The ideas shown off here will no doubt make it into very well-heeled home in the coming weeks – and gives the rest of us a glimpse of what’s coming in a year or two. Vehicle Wall Art slices of motoring culture Vehicle Wall Art slices of …

  1. Sebastian Brosig

    What about a Sinclair C5: would be about as useful chopped up as it was when new!

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Happy

      Coincidently I saw three of those in Paignton the other week.

    2. Vic

      What about a Sinclair C5: would be about as useful chopped up as it was when new!

      I saw a very sweet C5 the other weekend down at Dunsfold.

      It had a gas turbine in the back...

      Vic.

  2. Semtex451

    The lady by the cab looks "well impressed"

    1. John Bailey

      Probly one too many punters asked her to hop on the bonnet for a picture.

      Quite like the chair.. The rest.. No thanks.. at any price.

      1. chivo243 Silver badge

        Or, Do you come with the car or car/2 as it may be.

  3. ukgnome
    Coat

    These chopped up taxi's aren't just shit

    They are uber shit!

    *the one with the London A to M in the pocket

  4. Irongut

    A place in Glasgow used to do half cars decades ago. London catching up as usual. ;)

    I love the Hopper seat. I'd buy that (well probably can't afford it but I'd like to). I was there when he proposed to his wife.

    I used to use old bike pistons as ashtrays in the early 90s. Seems I was ahead of my time.

    1. Peter Simpson 1
      Happy

      Motoart

      http://www.motoart.com/

      They do it with pieces of classic airplanes. Ejection seat lounge chair and vertical stabilizer conference tables trump your chopped up taxis and wheel rims, even if they are chromed.

      // the cost is as stratospheric as the aircraft from which the parts came

      // just the thing for the SPB office, though

      1. Khaptain Silver badge

        Re: Motoart

        In my last company, managing private aircraft, our offices had a lot of this "furniture", it was extremely aesthetic, well made, obviously rock solid and was always a subject of conversation with our clients.

        Just wish I could have afforded some of it for home, it would have been great to have a couple of pieces in the garage.

    2. Shrimpling

      £7499 for the Suzuki chair... but that does include delivery.

      http://www.mementoexclusives.com/crescent-suzuki-world-superbike-office-chair.html

      The Health and Safety lady at work was saying I needed a new office chair... now I just need to persuade my boss that my back is the same shape as a Suzuki engine and I'm on to a winner!

    3. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      I still use an old boat engine piston as a pen and pencil holder....

    4. Chris G

      Not that much that is new in the world

      I used to make ashtrays out of Lycoming aero engine pistons in the '70s as did many other engineers in the trade.

      I have been in at least three bars and restaurants in California that had half a Cadillac, Yellow cab or other car chopped in half and glued to the wall.

      The Mistral Club In Beckenham South London had a car as the DJ booth for years.

      I gave a Martin Baker M1 Ejector seat to my mate for a wedding present when I was his best man 30 odd years ago (his new wife was REEEAAALLY impressed).

      I find the art and fashion worlds don't really do New they just rehash something old or if it's less than Old it's called retro.

      1. Vic

        Re: Not that much that is new in the world

        I have been in at least three bars and restaurants in California that had half a Cadillac, Yellow cab or other car chopped in half and glued to the wall.

        We've got this at a car-repair place in Southampton.

        The number plate spacing used to be less subtle, but they were told to change it...

        Vic.

    5. David Pollard

      London catching up as usual?

      In 1969, or was it '68, clothes and accessories vendor Granny Takes a Trip had half a car sticking out from their shop window onto the pavement on the King's Road.

      1. Mike Moyle

        Re: London catching up as usual?

        Back in the early '80s, when Banana Republic's thing was comfortable and durable traveling clothes -- before they went all Ralph-Lauren-y -- the store in Cambridge, MA, had a military Jeep that was sliced diagonally in half, and bisected by one of the main windows with one half outside of the store and the other half inside.

  5. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Prior Art

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Top_Gear_%28series_5%29 - see episode 6

    "The presenters each have to buy a Porsche for less than £1500 and put it through a series of tests. ... Clarkson wins in the end by selling his car as spare parts and as "furniture",

    See http://www.digitalcupcake.net/2012/01/02/porsche-entertainment-center/

    1. Anonymous Custard

      Re: Prior Art

      That episode (or at least them doing it) was what sprang to mind when I read the article too, although my Google-Fu hadn't got as detailed as yours in finding it again. So have an upvote for saving me the trouble.

      Making furniture and other stuff from car parts has been around for years even aside from that, although I guess the pedigree of some of the stuff in the article lifts it above that somewhat (and does something similar to the price). Certainly the chair is nice though.

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Re: Prior Art

        Yup, Grand Design, the Waterworks one with the Mini as a desk springs to mind.

        Also check out Sir Peter Rigby of SCC fame furniture.

        A glass-topped coffee table made from the radial engine of a Cessna Bobcat

        Sir Peter’s desk is made from a port tailplane from a Hawk jet

        A chrome-coated ejector seat from a Canberra B2 bomber

        A large table made from the centre section of a Rolls-Royce Avon jet engine

        http://readymadeinvest.com/interview-sir-peter-rigby/

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Prior Art

      A pub near us has the back end of a mini in the bar which contains the juke box and there are several pubs with large bits of canalboats in them acting as part of the bar.

  6. Stevie

    Bah!

    A scooter made from bits from a 3d printer?

    So you can ride to the shops *and* knock off a plastic gun on the way with which to hold them up?

    Brilliant!

  7. emmanuel goldstein

    Just

    fools and their money....

    1. Dave 126 Silver badge

      Re: Just

      >fools and their money....

      Er yeah...

      if I only had a tenner, it would be foolish of me to be parted from it. Agreed.

      If I had ten million quid, and all my shelter, food and booze was assured, what I do with the odd thousand quid doesn't matter a damn. That's kind of the point of having shitloads of money - being able able to spend someof it without thinking very much.

      I'm not saying it's tasteful, or right - just that it ain't necessarily foolish.

      And heck - if I bought some dodgy artwork, and sold it for ten times the amount ten years later - would I still be a fool, or would I be a prophet or just a jammy bugger?

  8. chivo243 Silver badge
    Coat

    Cool autos

    What if the door opened a full 90 degrees, I'm thinking a funky server rack, maybe a cool thing for a racing team at track side?

  9. disgruntled yank

    Mini prices start at £3,600 (including VAT)

    Remind me what value was added.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Mini prices start at £3,600 (including VAT)

      >Remind me what value was added.

      What mean you 'value'?

      Value (in monetry terms) is, be definition, what someone will pay for it at any given time, and in any given place.

      I've sold an orginal Pakamac on eBay for £35 cos some fool/fashionista wanted to pay that.

      This year, a friend gave me a disposable poncho for free because she wasn't going to any more festivals this summer - and a week later its value to me (in real terms) when packing up my tent in the rain was at leat equivalent to a cup of coffee or two.

      I've earnt a wage (not a commission; I was an assistant, not an artist) making artworks to sell to wealthy buyers. I like to cook dinner for people who give me ponchos.

    2. Mark 85

      Re: Mini prices start at £3,600 (including VAT)

      You get two pieces of wall art out of one Mini... and maybe assorted tidbits for lamps, etc.

      OTOH, what the others are saying.... not a new idea. Car parts place down the road from me as the ass end of a Buick Riviera sticking out side of one wall. The front and back seats are just inside the door by the coffee pot. Been there for at least 15 years.

  10. Allan George Dyer

    Pure Genius!

    Not for recycling bits of old vehicles as furniture and whatnot, which, as illustrated by many other commentators above, is quite a common idea. Yes, it's creative, and can be quite cool, but not genius-level, blow-your-socks-off creative.

    The real genius of the "100% Design" exhibitors is persuading someone that *their* creativity is worth a X00% markup.

  11. Roj Blake Silver badge

    Southampton Ahead of the Game

    I'm not sure what's innovative about sticking half a Mini to a wall - Jarvis' garage in Southampton has had one for at least twenty years.

POST COMMENT House rules

Not a member of The Register? Create a new account here.

  • Enter your comment

  • Add an icon

Anonymous cowards cannot choose their icon