Anyone who’s ever seen the amazing walking beach creatures – or kinetic sculptures – of Dutch artist Theo Jansen, will know how incredible they are. We actually first featured them way back in 2002. If you haven’t already seen them, take a trip to this YouTube video and spend some time being amazed. Back again? Good.
He treats them as living animals, and when you see them walking along the beach it’s not hard to sympathize. Well now everyone can have their own ‘animal’ in their home (or on their beach?) in a small size. The DIY Mini Strandbeest is a beautifully crafted recreation of one of his animals, the Animaris Ordis Parvus, which also walks just with the aid of the wind.
It comes in full flat pack mode, ready to assemble, and is almost 8 inches long. The thing slots together like a sort of jigsaw, and once assembled can be animated with natural wind, with some human puffing or a fan. And it’s really cool. It’s the sort of thing that would look really great strutting across your desk while you chat with the boss. It’s priced at $29.90, and requires no batteries at all.
We don’t often get the chance to say that, so let’s do it again. It requires no batteries at all.
Watch the video.