You’re bound to get nostalgic when you come across the erstwhile cassette tapes which now have become obsolete and CDs are in vogue. Most of these plastic cased cassettes have ended up in landfills making it hazardous for the environment. However, there are a few artists who have managed to recycle and reuse them into something more creative by giving them a new lease of life. Given below are seven such amazing innovative artwork made out of cassette tapes.
1. Cassette Tapes Lamp Box:
The Cassette Tapes Lamp Box is a tribute to the cassettes that rules the 80s and was very symbolic of that generation. Since the cassettes have a very solid structure, the lamp box too is very sturdy lighting equipment. It has been made by tying the cassettes together and then fixing the center of the lamp with a lamp holder. The soft flow of the lamp reveals the internal structure of the cassette making it live once again!
2. Cassette wallet:
These amazing colorful retro wallets are designed by Marcella Foschi from Italy and are entirely handmade by using old cassette tapes. Each wallet is made by one single cassette and it comes in a variety of colors. Priced at $39 – this is a must-have for all the music enthusiasts as it is a very creative way to keep the retro era alive.
3. Cassette tape closet:
The Cassette Tape Closet has been designed and made by Patrick Schuur from Denmark. This amazing closet is constructed by using 918 cassette tapes and each of them has been fitted by screws on to a wooden base structure. This attractive and colorful closet is can be used either at home or at office.
4. Cassette Tape Watch:
The Cassette Face watch is a modern looking time-piece made out of quartz that looks like a miniature cassette tape in which one reel is used for displaying the hour and the other displays the minutes. It has a strong stainless steel body that has a very retro appearance.
5. iPod Cassette Tape Cases:
You can select from a wide range of iPod cases made out of old cassette tapes that are being sold by a Web site called 45 iPod cases. These cassette iPod cases are perfect in size and you can easily fit your iPod Nano. Old cassette tapes like Maxell, Memorex, Denon etc. are used to bring these erstwhile music tapes to life! The cases can also be customized to accommodate your 4th-6th generation iPod Classic.
6. Necktie:
This amazing necktie has been designed by Sonic Fabric’s artist Alyce Santoro and is a beautiful and durable accessory that is made by weaving together recorded audio cassette tape along with colored polyester thread in a 50:50 ratio! These ties are available in limited editions and are hand sewn by a designer in Manhattan by the name of Julio Cesar. If you run a tape head over the sonic fabric necktie, then you can hear some underwater sounds. These ties look great and come in three basic colors – light gray, dark brown and black. Priced at $120 – these ties are certainly worth the money!
7. Sculptural skeleton:
These sculptures made out of old cassette tapes are an extremely innovative idea to reuse these old possessions and to give them a great form. These sculptures are the work of Brian Dettmer, an artist from Atlanta who has altered the shapes of cassette tapes to make brilliant sculptures. The artist got the inspiration to transform something ‘dead’ to life and so the cassette struck him as a great solid medium to use. Dettmer transformed the plastic shells of cassettes and turned them into sculptures of human skulls. The most intricate work he has done is to make a full-fledged skeleton by using more than 180 cassettes and he has placed these tapes together without using any adhesive. Although, the artist has not revealed the exact process, but he has hinted that he heats up the plastic tapes so that they become soft enough to remold and weld.