A meaningful momento

Once again Book of Joe has featured something that has forced me to lock up my wallet in the safe.

If anyone is at a loss for what to buy me for my birthday this year, here's the perfect present (only 166 shopping days left, people!):

It is a wooden 'bowl' that is precision milled from multi-grained wood to match any contoured landscape on the planet.  Here's a brief description from 'Fluidforms', the creators of this unique piece of functional coffee-table art:

Each part of the earth is unique in the design of her heights and depths. Fluidforms enables customers to have a piece of this singularity on a table at home. The different contour lines of a chosen area define the shape of the bowl. An expedition into landscapes and cities only known from hiking. The earth becomes a sensory experience, that can be filled with the fruits of the earth.

Materials: Laminated Beach
Size: ~300x300x65mm, other sizes on request

The site allows you to enter the name of the town/city and then use Google Earth to zero in on exactly the area you want to use as the model for your wooden contour map.  For instance, I live at: North (31'40'37N- 35'10'20E) - South (31'38'22N-35'08'50E).  Once you have the area defined on their site, the folks at Fluidform then custom mill your bowl and hand sand it to perfection.

Given the spectacular topography of Israel (especially Gush Etzion), this thing is an incredible temptation for me.  Personally, I don't think I'd use the finished product as a bowl... but that's just me. 

Treppenwitz Tip: Those of you who live in Kansas and Oklahoma can save yourselves a heap of money by simply going out to the local lumber yard and buying a 1 ft² block of your favorite wood.  No milling or sanding required!

Don't thank me... I'm a giver.

Hat Tip: Book of Joe