The Joy Was Great

February 13, 2003 9:48 AM

Marcel Betrisey creates unique clocks and strange machine hybrids. Take, for example, his c.d. player integrated into an antique sewing machine, his rolling ball clock or his wonderfully silly amplifier that uses a tap for volume control. While I’m not exactly sure what some are for, I think what he says about his c.d. player with a rotary arm sums it up best: “I wanted simply to know if it were feasible, and the joy was great when it delivered the first note of Electric Ladyland.”
posted by snez (5 comments total)

I linked to the Google translation page because the French section is more complete. If you like this type of stuff, I found Marcel Betrisey through this links page that can easily suck your day away with dozens of goodies all worthy of their own front page post.
posted by snez at 9:53 AM on February 13, 2003

Thank you snez - you have brought us a truly fine link today. I will go now and regress to the 10-year-old I used to be - the one who would tape straws together and tie them to the walls in my room in order to make a sculpture for a coppery cascade of B-Bs. Those clocks are amazing.
posted by kokogiak at 10:01 AM on February 13, 2003

Neat stuff. Snez gets a gold star.
posted by Tacodog at 10:08 AM on February 13, 2003

Wow, snez, thanks!
posted by silusGROK at 12:03 PM on February 13, 2003

The video of the ball-bearing clock must be seen (3.7MB AVI). Dr. Seuss' imagination, and Leonardo's engineering/artistry, with an antiques collector thrown in. The man is a mad genius.
posted by letitrain at 12:10 PM on February 13, 2003