If you were born before the 1990s, chances are bright that you might be having hundreds, if not more, of old cassette tapes lying around somewhere. The cassette tapes, which were rendered obsolete much before the dawn of the new century, by CDs and later by flash memory, were once considered the best way to enjoy music anytime and anywhere. Although there is not much use for them in the present times, there are certain eco-conscious individuals who transform these relics into something useful. Here are some of the best products made from recycled cassette tapes.
- Sonic Fabric:
Those of you who have used a cassette tape in your life, would also be knowing about the mess it creates of black magnetic tape once broken. Since we’re talking about old tapes, there are chances that you might have a large number of broken cassettes with all that black mess oozing out of it. Alyce Santoro, a conceptual artist, came up with an innovative way to recycle the black tape by transforming It into a highly durable fabric, dubbed Sonic Fabric. The Sonic Fabric can take up any form, including an umbrella, dress and even ties.
- Wallets:
What would you do with the plastic wrapping of a cassette tape once the black tape is transformed into Sonic Fabric? The answer is transforming the plastic material into a trendy and durable wallet. At least, this is what designer Marcella Foschi envisioned when she connected the two plastic pieces with a zipper, creating a trendy wallet.
- TapeHouse:
Quite obviously, you only need a limited number of wallets and if you have a collection that of thousands of old cassette tapes, you will still be searching for ways to recycle them. Don’t worry as designer Emmett McNamara has your back. The young design student has created a one-of-its-kind TapeHouse using more than 7000 cassette tapes.
- Lamps:
Using the same design principle as followed by Emmett McNamara, albeit on a much smaller scale, a designer created aesthetically pleasing and highly innovative lamps. All the designer did was create a cube with around 36 cassette tapes, and used the empty space in between to install a light bulb. The end result looks stunning and creates visually impressive illumination using nothing but stuff you probably will never want to use in your life.
- Pencil and pen stands:
If you were and are a music fan and still have a couple of cassette tapes left after creating everything that is mentioned above, you can carry on your recycling efforts by creating a small pencil and pen stand using four cassettes.