We all want to make a good first impression then leave a mark when we’re done, particularly when it comes to a labor of love, and what better way than with this custom-designed hammer?

This device turned an off-the-shelf hammer into a lovely gift for that special someone by “using the industrial mold-making technique of electro-erosion (EDM),” explains its creator, Dog Ganchrov (images by Moti Fishbain).

The “steel hammering head has been reshaped into a heart, and the hammer has been transformed into a tool for leaving a mark” when you’re hard (or heart?) at work.

“Anything struck by it will now have a signature ‘heart’ shape indented on it,” he explains, “be it a tree, wall or hood of an ex-lovers car. The hammer is a tool for constructing but it can also destroy.”

And anyone who has worked with a hammer knows that even the best and most experienced folks can mess up from time to time, missing the mark or slipping off the head of a nail — but it usually just leaves a semi-circle.

This so-called Love/Hate Thing evolved from the idle musings of its maker: “Is the urge to leave a mark a curse or blessing? How much of a mark? How much of [our] selves? How much of a mark on the ecological system, cultural trend, design students, human well-being?” It is on display at the Periscope Gallery in Tel-Aviv.