Dominic Wilcox prefers the title of inventor rather than designer, and it’s not hard to see why when you browse his many weird yet wonderful creations. From the ‘bird-listening device’, to the ‘cereal-serving head crane’, Wilcox’s creations are like something straight out of your childhood dreams.
Dominic began inventing things in college, when a mentor introduced him to a book of inventions. Each had something obscure about it, and although he can’t remember the book’s title, it stirred something in Dominic that would influence his path forever.
As a child, Dominic was very quiet. But in an interview in the documentary ‘The Reinvention of Normal’, the playful inventor explains that “the quiet children do a lot of work in their heads.” His father always encouraged him to think outside the box and nurture his imagination.
When the book of inventions came along in college, Dominic was finally inspired to bring the amazing things from his head into reality.
Dominic’s international recognition began after starting the ‘Speed Creating Project’. “I hadn’t made anything for a while. I wanted to put pressure on myself to be creative. So this idea I had was to challenge myself to come up with something creative everyday for 30 days in a row and put it on my blog.”
Fans began to follow and excitedly await Dominic’s daily inventions. Fast forward to today and he has appeared on ‘The Late Show’ with Stephen Colbert, and had various short documentaries made about him. His beautiful and unique mind has captured the curiosity of people all over the world.
Below is a sample of Dominic’s greatest and most interesting inventions.
Tummy Rumbling Amplification Device
“When you are hungry your belly may rumble. With this wearable device you can amplify the sound of your hungry tummy far and wide. Using an embedded microphone pressed up against the belly and a speaker within the huge horn, your rumbles will be noticed by all.”
Cereal Serving Head Crane
“Instead of just pouring your cereal into your bowl you can now use this milk powered hydraulic crane device worn on your head. The arms are powered by syringes containing milk that act in a similar way to hydraulics on large industrial diggers. Push and pull the plungers to move the arms and then shovel cereal from the box to your bowl.”
War Bowl: the Battle of Waterloo
“War bowl is made using historically accurate model soldiers from famous past battles. The red Battle of Waterloo bowl is made with British artillery and French infantry figures.”
The Finger Nose Stylus
“I sometimes use my phone in the bath. I know it’s stupid. One problem I encounter is that when put my left hand in the water without thinking, it gets wet and unusable for touchscreen navigation. It is too risky to try to hold and navigate with one hand. I found that I could use my nose to scroll but I couldn’t see where my nose was touching precisely. It was at that point that I came up with this idea of a nose extension ‘finger’ that would allow navigation while my phone is firmly held by one hand.”
Teacup with In-Built Cooling Fan
“The days of burnt tongues from overly hot tea are gone with Dominic Wilcox’s practical tea time invention. Whenever you are eager to drink your piping hot, freshly poured tea of choice, simply switch the tea fan on to speed up the cooling process.”
‘No Place Like Home’ GPS Shoes
“After uploading your required destination to the shoes via a piece of custom made mapping software and a USB cable, the GPS, which is embedded in the heel, is activated by a heel click. It then communicates to the wearer via a ring of LED lights to point in the required direction. The shoe with the GPS wirelessly communicates with the right shoe that has a progress bar of lights to show how close you are to the destination.”
Watch Sculptures
“By attaching tiny figures and hand made models onto the second and minute hands of each watch, Wilcox has made unique, animated scenes from everyday observations and imagined situations.”
Tree Branch Work Desk
“Since my studio can be anywhere, I decided to make a tree branch work desk to enable me to think up a tree with a cup of tea and pencils at hand.”
See more of Dominic’s thought-provoking work on his website: dominicwilcox.com
See the previous article we wrote on Dominic’s ‘inventors’ project, where he invited children to design inventions then brought them into fruition.