Your mind had better give me cab fare, because I’m about to blow it.

Intrepid commenter Pixel Pixie pointed me at Raven Armoury, which sells all sorts of amazing hand-forged swords, knives, jewelry, and sculptures. Specifically, she mentioned the gorgeous (and, it pretty much goes without saying, insanely expensive), skeleton cutlery that they offer. Although made by Raven, the pieces were designed by Andre Lassen, so I checked out his site and whoa, Nelly; we have found a kindred spirit.

In his bio he describes growing up being fascinated by arms and weaponry; at ten years old, a movie about the French Revolution inspired him to make model (working) guillotines. He’s friends with H.R. Giger and has fabricated pieces that Giger designed. He now owns The Tribe Gallery in Amsterdam, and sells his work there (and possibly takes commissions online as well; the site is a little unclear).

The site, to engage in riotous understatement, is a little hard to navigate. It’s worth persevering, though, because he has some insanely gorgeous stuff: Sculptures, knives and swords, jewelry, guitars (one of which Blondie played), and furniture. His overall style, including the decorative detailing on his weapons, puts me in mind of Conan-era Frazetta, with overtones of Lovecraft.

In particular, check out the gallery for his hand-carved wooden bat desk and matching chair. It has shot to the very top of my list of things I’ll own if I ever win the lottery.

Also worth a look is the “Film” section of his portfolio, which has a bunch of in-progress pictures for props that he built. They’d be a great source of inspiration for props or crafting.

(Thanks, Pixel Pixie!)