The Blot just found out about an exciting new collaboration between resin toy designer Cris Rose and the woodworking master Pepe of Smallstuff Studios, and couldn’t wait for the final reveal to blog about it. The artists’ Arborobots Series (pronounced “Are-Bore-O-Bots”) is a new line of figures designed in London and hand crafted in Zurich, giving this release a truly worldly feel! It also means numbers for this series will be extremely limited. It is worth noting that these new Arborobots will NOT be made from resin, so might we be seeing the world’s first wooden robots? The first release will be a set of two robots that work together, reflecting the collaborative nature of this endeavor.
Arborobots Official Backstory Part 1 of 2: “In an attempt to increase robot production and improve computational power, the research and development team at Omega Tellurion made an international request for anyone with new ideas and techniques. Among the flood of bizarre and inane suggestions from the general public, there was single proposal that stood out… at least in so far as it was the only submitted on handmade paper. Before the thick tome was even opened, it had garnered significant interest as it appeared that the hard cover and thin leaves of paper had not been bound, but were of one continuous form. The engraving on the front was also of an unknown method. While it seemed to be a finely etched hardwood, under picometer wave inferascope analysis it was clear that each cell and fibre was perfectly aligned and undamaged. Even the colouring on the pages were found to be pigments within the cells themselves, purposefully aligned to produce extremely high resolution text and vivid full colour images.
The contents of this highly unique book left the team of scientists puzzled and bemused. Expecting the language of technology and manufacture, this text read more like a gardeners handbook with a heavy dose of genetics. Having no specialists in either field, a request was made for the gentleman responsible for this submission to make a personal visit to the research lab at Omega Moonbase. In reply came a counter-invitation to visit a more terrestrial location. Switzerland.
Along with England and Norway, Switzerland was one of the few countries to insist on retaining their national identity long after most that had joined the Global Harmonious Republic had allowed their boarders to be dissolved. The destination was accessible only by air – a remote mountain valley deep within the largest of those national forests that had been re-established a century or so prior. No sooner had they set foot on the deep, lush grass, then they were greeted by a soft spoken man named Pepe.”