In a similar (or not so?) similar fashion, you could have your very own park bench – in as little as ten minutes, in fact, if you’re super strong and have a couple of people helping you out while you set it up.

These Tree Benches are a part of Utrecht-based spatial designer Rogier Martens‘ ”Aandeboom” series, which translates to something like “attached to trees.” Martens came up with these benches after the Dutch city of Amersfoort invited him to design a temporary bench for a local park.

All you need to set up the benches is a strong and sturdy tree trunk. The suspension system makes it quick and easy to “fasten” the bench onto the tree, so to speak.

These Tree Benches would be great to add additional seating to parks and other public areas during huge events or concerts. You should contact Rogier if you want to inquire about the pricing on his benches, in case you want one for yourself.

[via Pop Up City]

While these players aren’t as popular as they once were, turntables are still widely available. But this special player called “Years” by German artist Bartholomäus Traubeck is the first and only one of its kind available in the whole world.

The Years turntable plays the music that takes years and years to compose – and I mean that literally. This unique record player spins cross-sections of tree trunks and translates the arrangement and pattern of the tree’s rings into sweet piano notes.

Traubeck came up with this ingenious record player using a digital camera and hooking the entire thing up with computer software.

He basically took a turntable and modified it so that its tonearm could hold a digital camera and light in place of where the needle usually is. As the thick block of wood turns, the camera scans the the rings for their thickness, growth rate, texture, and overall color tone. This data is then fed into the computer software, which fits the information onto a musical scale. The final result? Sweet music – au naturale.

[via Gizmag]

Loaded with about 50 green tentacles protruding from inside the branches, and topped by a plush Cthulhu tree-topper, this thing is sure to freak out visitors who come over to the house expecting reindeer, snowmen and tinsel on the tree.

I can only imagine that the malevolent octopus-dragon-beast is sitting at the top, staring down at humanity while crushing the life out of the poor pine tree and forcing its needles to the floor – all the while, throwing all who look at it into a state of madness as they sip their hot cocoa, and unwrap their prezzies.

[Geyser of Awesome via Nerd Approved]

Each is unique and custom built from KMKG Studio, and will cost you around 11,000 Euros (~$14,850 USD).

[via New Launches via Geeky-Gadgets]

Except for the wires, there aren’t any apparent buttons, knobs or dials because the controls have been hidden so that they’re discreet. You’ll find a circular disk which controls the power and volume. The two speakers themselves feature a diameter of 4″, and they also have an audio jack, allowing you to plug in any media player.

Thomas also designed a wall-mounted version, which allows iPods and iPhones to dock like a bird on a branch. However, at this point, these are only concept designs, and there are no current plans to produce them.

[Designbuzz via Ubergizmo]

I suspect it involves a super sharp knife. The artist picks the leaf for the project and washes, dries, molds, and then cuts the leaf away to reveal the art within. Just look at how detailed the works are with the little branches of the trees. I would not have the steady hands needed to do this sort of thing.

The artist’s works are based on paper cutting techniques that are used in Japan, China, and other countries.

Check out the artist’s site to see more of his works. If you see one that really grabs your eye, you can purchase the work. Duran doesn’t price anything and prefers to let the buyer set the price.

[via Like Cool]

Any Apple fanboy/fangirl would relish having The Jobs on his/her Christmas tree. That, or you can make it and place it on your desk. I like how large his head is. That seems pretty appropriate.

You can find a guide in German here at Benm.at and here’s a link to the PDF.

[via 9 to 5 Mac]

Just like the controllers – which by the way are still available – the ornaments are made from acrylic and come in a variety of colors: red, black, white and yellow.

The video game console ornaments are available at Etsy shop Use Your Digits and come in two bundles – packs of five cost $20 (USD), while packs of ten cost $35. Unfortunately for console fanboys, you can’t order five or ten of just one console.

The latest weird set of speakers are Marcos Ignacio Madia’s Growin’ Up speakers that are more concept than reality at this point. The speakers come in modules that can be stacked to design the speaker you want. Each section is a bit narrower than the other sort of like how a tree gets narrower as you go up.

Each modular section can be turned to give the angle the user wants. Exactly how the speakers are powered is unclear. Presumably, each of those sections needs its own power cord, which would get ugly fast. You would think speakers modeled after a tree would be made out of wood, but these things seem to be plastic.

[via Hometone via Dvice]

Peter Terren made a similar tree two years ago, but he upped the ante this year with a 30-foot tree using a Tesla coil. Nikola Tesla is well known as the father of electricity.

The invention of the Tesla coil goes back to 1891. Today, these coils are mainly used for entertainment displays and educational purposes.

On his blog, Terren details how exactly he constructed this incredible looking tree. With that much electricity going around, you can bet that this won’t be popular inside homes, but it just looks plain amazing outside in the dark. I just wonder what kind of presents Santa will leave Peter Terren underneath this strange tree.

[via Neatorama via Make, photos by Peter Terren]

Created by Dave Rollins of Digits (with the help of Ponoko’s laser fabrication services), these acrylic holiday gamer ornaments are the perfect addition to any game geek’s Christmas tree, Hanukkah bush, or Secular shrub.

Each set comes with 7 ornaments, including 2-dimensional cutout versions of Wii, N64, Xbox 360, Dreamcast, NES, PS2 and Sega Genesis controllers. The ornaments each measure between 3 and 4 inches wide, so they’re a bit smaller than the real deals.

They’re available in 6 colors, including red, white, yellow, black, clear, and red-tinted acrylic, and can be found over at Digits’ Ponoko or Etsy shops for just $20 bucks a set.

Buy a bunch and cover your whole tree. I’m hoping next year that Dave will make some matching console ornaments and maybe an Atari paddle controller or two.

The Pac-Man tree skirt (bound to be at least as interesting as the actual gifts sitting on it) is an impressive 41 inches in diameter. That’s a lot of black felt spread about on your floor. Sure, you can go bigger, but really, how much living room do most of us have? It’s available at Etsy for only $14, too. I challenge you to roll on down to your favorite Xmas decor outlet and find something half so cool for so little.

You’re probably not going to get Pac-Man at Target, for that matter. Oh, you might find him somewhere, but in the holiday department? Good luck.

And this isn’t just any old Yoda tree-topper. This one features a light up LED lightsaber, perfect for taking down Sith and other Imperial baddies who happen to make their way into your living room. And while the Star Wars guys don’t have any pictures of exactly what this guy will look like sitting on top of your tree, I’ve taken the liberty of creating this artist’s rendition for those of you with no imagination…

Want Yoda on your tree this holiday season? Head on over to the StarWarsShop and pre-order him now for $39.99 (USD).

The bright green laser tree was on display from December 18 to 22 between the towers of the Yurakucho Marion building in the Tokyo’s fashionable Ginza district.

Click to View Embedded Video Clip

I still think nothing’s quite as good as Madrid’s Pac-Man Christmas tree, but this one is still cooler than your average evergreen.

The “tree” features a fully-animated version of the classic arcade game, rendered across thousands of colored LEDs.

From what I can tell (my Spanish isn’t that great), its currently on display in downtown Madrid at Nuevos Ministerios.

[via Clipset, with extra photos over on Kartones Blog]

Designed by Jesus Felipe and Silvia Grimaldi of UK-based Nimble Critters, the ETree lamp is more of an interactive sculpture than simply a lamp. Each of the light’s 10 bluish-green “branches” can be bent into about any shape, creating undulating arboreal structures reminiscent of the tentacles of an upside-down jellyfish. [check out the lamp in action here.]

The ETree floor lamp will set you back about £1000 (appx. $2068 USD), although there’s a simpler 5-branch table lamp version that’s £360 (appx. $745 USD). They’re available from the Kinetica Design Museum.

Handcrafted in Germany by Thalbach Design, each wooden USB flash drive is made from quality hardwoods and delicately sanded to a smooth finish.

The memory sticks come in a variety of hardwoods including 150-year old burled wood, ebony, ash, maple and several colored stain finishes as well. Prices range from €45 ($69 USD) to €95 ($135 USD), depending on style and memory size.

[via Designspotter]