This decade is already giving off major cyberpunk vibes, but we can never truly forget about steampunk: the subgenre of sci-fi that combines imagined technologies and 19th century aesthetics. Hungarian designer and illustrator Peter Szucsy certainly hasn’t forgotten about the theme, and is even using it for inspiration. Inspiration for making steampunk spiders that look like something out of a Wild Wild West nightmare.
Peter Szucsy
My Modern Met reported on Szucsy’s spiders, which he sells in his online shop. Szucsy—who’s also an art director in the gaming industry—makes the spindly metallic arachnids out of antique watch parts he fishes out from flea markets.
Peter Szucsy
“I never make a concept,” Szucsy told My Modern Met. “It would be totally impossible because every detail depends on what I find in the flea markets,” he added. Szucsy also noted that his “entire design process” happens at the markets; where he stands with pieces in his hands and wonders how he can use them to assemble his creepy, clicking crawlers.
Szucsy says it’s difficult to collect every necessary part for a particular spider, as he needs to make sure its parts match in style, material, and color. But when the pieces do come together, each spider looks stunning. As in, they look like things that could literally stun you because they may be venomous. (Although the venom would be something like… engine oil?)
Peter Szucsy
The only downside to the steampunk spiders—and their fellow steampunk insects—is their cost, as any one of the pieces will set buyers back somewhere in the neighborhood of a thousand dollars. But each spider obviously requires a ton of effort. And, just as importantly, Szucsy’s making these spiders as a way to avoid the sticky web of the workaday world. “I really enjoy the handmade creation,” Szucsy told My Modern Met. “I don’t plan to return to my computer.”
