The Ultra-Classy Street Furniture of Rotterdam

Dutch artist Joost Goudriaan thinks that Rotterdam's urban infrastructure could use a little sprucing up. So using luxury materials like leather, walnut, and gold, he built a line of street furniture that's fit for a king.

Goudriaan, who also dreamed up this delightful chair for hyperactive children, deployed some of his exquisitely crafted creations in 2010 and during last year's De Wereld van Witte de With, a perennial arts festival in the Netherlands. (Perhaps the artist should team up with this guy, who is making beds in public for this year's fest?) Everyday commuters all of a sudden were treated to streets that scanned like the inside of an elite cigar bar, with pavement tiles made from antique wood and gleaming bollards of porcelain. New pedestrian signs of oiled wood sprouted from the sidewalks. A sewer grate gleamed with a coating of precious metal.