You'll Go Cuckoo Over These Eight Modern Clocks from Italy's Diamantini and Domeniconi.

I happen to be Cuckoo for Cuckoo Clocks as indicated by a previous round up of modern cuckoos I posted way back in 2007. It's been awhile and since then many new ones have been realized by Italy's Diamantini & Domeniconi, cuckoo and otherwise. Here are a few of my new favorites, all recent designs from within the past two years.

Cucobo by Lorenzo Damiani, 2011

Mantle cuckoo clock, taken from the classic idea of the house, functionally reinterpreted: the roof is the lid of the box you can open to change the batteries and set the time.


Chalet by Studio Interno 2011

The Chalet wall clock takes the classic idea of the Swiss house and reinterprets it in a modern style.



Coco by Enrico Azzimonti, 2011

Coco is a suspended cuckoo clock that can be placed at different heights, brought up or down or rotated in the air, much like a cloud. Two lacquered metal pendulums gently swing back and forth.



Plex LED by Studio Interno, 2011

A cuckoo clock of minimal inspiration with clock hands located under the plexiglass dial and small pedestal feetm making it a tabletop cuckoo clock. The clear methacrylate can be matched to the different lacquered versions of the frames. It is also available in a version with an opaline plexiglass dial inside a white frame. The clock contains LED lights, emitting soft lighting that can be turned on or off.




Polefimo by Enrico Azzimonti, 2011


The base of this clock is actually a money box (or piggy bank as more commonly referred to in the US) allowing you to empty your pockets and archive the coins. Just lift the clock from its base to easily retrieve your coins. The 'eyes' of the Polifemo clock reveal the time.



Tablito e Tablita by Enrico Azzimonti, 2011

A small blackboard clock with chalk you can hang on the wall, on the fridge in the kitchen or anywhere you'd like. You can write in the clock numbers or leave a message, draw numbers or give it a face.

Tablito changes with your feelings. You can add graphics - give him a smile or add thousand hands- and then take them off with the magnetic felt eraser.


Back Nature by Roberto Rizzi, 2010

“Back Nature” is a monument dedicated to Nature. Its modus operandi is inspired by the Baroque style, and has many natural elements in one monochromatic composition.



Icona 225 and Icona 226 by Giovanni Levanti, 2010


The Icona cuckoo clocks are modern geometric wooden cuckoo clocks presented in warm and tasteful matt colours.


Diamantini & Domeniconi

You can find these and other Diamantini and Domeniconi clocks at the following online stores:
Unica Home
Switch Modern
Vraiment Beau
My Marca

The Domino Wall Clock From The Carbon Design Group.

from the press release:
We live in a hectic world. Alerts, alarms, and reminders prod us through our days with unforgiving precision. Challenging this pressure-filled environment, the Domino Clock™ takes a simple, iconic object and transforms it into a new way to tell time. The concept is simple. Three larger-than-life dominoes are equipped with articulating dots that flip back-and-forth between black and white to keep time. They hang on the wall or stand free, communicating wirelessly as they quietly mark the passing hours and minutes. By subtly abstracting the idea of time, Carbon’s Domino Clock creates a more relaxing experience.



Challenging Expectations. While the idea itself is pretty straight forward, it challenges the assumptions we make about familiar objects. "People have a lot of immediate associations with everyday things, especially iconic ones," says Joe Sullivan, industrial designer at Carbon Design Group, a Seattle-based product development consultancy. "It’s interesting to play with these expectations. In this case, we’re taking a well-known object out of its normal context and giving it new capabilities, allowing it to function as something completely different."




"The numbering scheme on dominoes and dice developed as a way to represent numbers that’s immediately recognizable, so in a lot of ways it makes perfect sense to use it as a time piece," explains Sullivan. "Everyone gets it, but the fact that we’re not used to seeing it in this context makes it unexpected at the same time. It’s this shift in context that gives the concept a twist."



Fueling the Passion. The Domino Clock was one of a number of ideas bubbling up in the Carbon studio when it was selected to be a Carbon Passion Project. Similar to Google’s 20% Time, Carbon’s Passion Projects are designed to fuel the creative spark. "They’re a way to push the boundaries… to try something new, to take a break from the constraints of client projects and play a little," explains Dan Blase, President of Carbon Design Group. "These projects foster Carbon’s culture of learning and play, and, at the same time, give our team the variety they thrive on."

Making it Real. Simple ideas often require a good deal of work to keep them simple. "Form-wise, it’s a very literal reference to a domino, so 95% of the up-front heavy-lifting from an aesthetic standpoint is defined from the get-go," says Sullivan. Once the form is set, the conversation moves quickly to feel and function. The reference to real dominoes plays heavily here as well. From their playful falling motion, to the weight of the ceramic materials in your hand, dominoes have very specific physical qualities inherent to them. "The clock wants to communicate these same qualities, from the materials down to the precise motion of the dots."



"If you imagine a domino scaled up to a foot tall, it would be quite heavy and have considerable inertia. The mechanism that creates the motion needs a sense of gravity to it to give the flip the feel of falling," says Sullivan. It was up to Eric Davis, one of Carbon’s mechanical engineers, to solve the challenge of creating a small mechanism that generated this slow movement, yet was very quiet. The additional challenge of powering thousands of transitions a day without burning through batteries meant Davis would need to design a custom actuator. Ultimately, he developed a mechanism that runs off a small, electromagnetic coil. "You might call it a ‘single-poled motor,’" says Davis. "The magnet and the iron move around the coil… opposite the way motors are usually designed." The device can be fine-tuned to get just the desired flip speed. And, best of all, power is only required to initiate the movement, and not while the device is in either the black or white resting state. A more detailed explanation and video demonstration of the Domino Clock proof of concept prototype is available on Carbon’s site.