lionello borean: dominO'clock

rendering of ‘dominO’clock’, designed by lionello borean

in ‘dominO’clock‘, the work of italian designer lionello borean, the appearance and vernacular of the game of dominoes become integral to reading the time.

full view renderings of the clock

the clock itself is designed as a loose approximation of adjacent domino tiles. the leftmost two sections together display the date: the first tile represents the first digit of the day’s date (either zero, one, two, or three dots) and the second draws the second digit from a grid of dots.

the righthand section of the clock displays the time by rearranging the grid of black domino tiles so that viewed in composite, they model the appropriate digits. each minute, the clock pushes forward those pieces that are needed to form the numbers of the current time, while retracting out of sight into its base those tiles that are not.

left: detail view of clock from side, where domino numbers are embossed into the plastic right: detail view of the tiles composing the time display

borean’s custom dominO’clock font, illustrating the necessary tile configuration for each digit