I went from strangely amused to really impressed after looking through SanSamuel’s image gallery. First, the image of the Barcelona Chair caught my eye. You can’t help but know about this chair if you completed the first year architecture program at IIT (some people know it intimately, they had to draft it). Beautiful, minimal, and most importantly, designed by Mies van der Rohe, the Barcelona Chair is a valued piece of furniture on campus. So imagine my amusement to see this chair rendered in such an environment. How frivolous! (heh heh)

Anyway, SanSamuel’s other works stilled the laughter and quite often made me do a double take and then another. He’s an architect and 3d artist whose renderings come ridiculously close to appearing real. At first glance you could mistake it for a picture, but then you’re compelled to look closer to seek the imperfections in the fabric. That’s a quality I admire, to stir the need for a second look. It is very difficult to achieve “realness” in a rendering, from getting the right lighting, to setting and scaling the materials, to including all the little details. Yes, that light-switch really is important. I enjoyed delving into his collection. I have included my favorites, but you can check out more on his site.