Remember your old cassette tapes? They get transformed into beautiful accessories
If yous grew up between the 1970s and 1990s, y'all would recollect listening to cassette tapes. You might fifty-fifty have recorded your favourite songs on the radio, or made your ain mixtapes – the equivalent of today's Spotify playlists.
Cassettes were phased out by the 2000s. Merely for Jessica "JJ" Chuan, the 32-year-former Malaysia-built-in, Singapore-based founder of rehyphen, they served a purpose then and keep to serve a purpose at present.
When she was 17, her proficient friend moved to Commonwealth of australia to farther her studies. To keep in touch, they would record what they wanted to say on cassette tapes, and mail them to each other. Chuan would besides send over recordings of her pianoforte compositions for her friend to critique.
In 2016, after working in business organisation evolution in Shanghai for a number of years, the Parsons School of Design, New York alumnus striking upon the idea to requite these forgotten – but still beloved – relics of her past a new lease of life.
"I found some quondam cassettes and decided to take the tape out and weave it into a fabric," she told CNA Lifestyle. She experimented with various techniques to fashion the material, including embroidery and knitting, but none worked. That was until she stumbled upon felting needles. Mimicking a traditional handbasket weave, Chuan produced what would come to exist known equally MusicCloth.
"I sent this material to the Material ConneXion library (in New York), where my cloth lecturer used to bring us, and the library accepted my material. They even asked me to ship them 20 more pieces to display in their libraries worldwide," she said.
Since and then, Chuan has handmade totes, notebooks, dresses and scarves using MusicCloth. In Singapore, these items are retailed at lifestyle shops such equally Kapok, Supermama and Books Actually. Kapok's two locations in Hong Kong likewise deport rehyphen designs.
The items range in price from S$10 for a Tweet Tape – cassettes with 140-grapheme greetings – to S$3,900 for a set of three portraits of Michael Jackson, fabricated using the late singer's old cassettes.
MusicCloth has also received critical acclaim, having exhibited at a TEDx consequence in Johor Bahru last October every bit an "idea worth spreading" as well as being part of Carmine Dot 21'south World Of Pattern.
A LABOUR OF LOVE
Weaving MusicCloth is labour intensive, and so Chuan enlists the help of her mum. The pair works from their home in Bukit Panjang. Small items like EZ-Link bill of fare backings take around 20 minutes to complete; more complex designs, such as totes, require two to three days' piece of work. The most elaborate of all are the scarves, which take months to finish.
"We need time to collect the patterns and match the colours. There's probably about five or six different shades of brown. And so, in that location's the cease tape. By and large, they come up in white, but sometimes, they come up in neon pink, neon bluish or neon yellow," said Chuan.
To supplement her income – she earns most S$ii,000 a month from wholesaling to Kapok, her biggest retail customer – Chuan conducts workshops for corporate companies and regime bodies. Past clients include the Aliwal Arts Eye, Ministry building of the Environment and Water Resources (MEWR), Singapore Art Museum (SAM) and Singapore Press Holdings (SPH).
Chuan too runs a Ready, Cassette, Go! workshop for Airbnb Experiences, charging Due south$68 per person for a two-hour session. So far, the response has been positive, with a iv.93/v rating from 29 reviews.
BECOMING A FRIEND OF CORUM
On Aug 16, Chuan added some other plume to her cap when luxury Swiss watch label Corum officially appear her every bit a Friend Of The Brand. "What she's doing is and then unique, and nosotros're about crafting your dreams, then we thought we could exist a colonnade of support for her," Corum Marketing Manager Selina Ang told CNA Lifestyle.
In line with the brand's support for women entrepreneurs like Chuan, Corum is also the official timepiece for the Women Entrepreneur Awards (WEA), having invested a v-figure sum in the initiative, and sponsoring four timepieces for the winners.
Would Corum characteristic MusicCloth in a time to come watch collaboration? Already, Chuan sports a Bubble 47 Mona Lisa at public events and on her social media platforms. "Selfishly, yes! We could do a musician (themed) collection. Music connects people, regardless of who you lot are or where you are," said Ang.
The Bubble 47 Mona Lisa has a dial designed by Italian-Canadian creative person Elisabetta Fantone. Information technology is ane of the 62 watches in the Bubble collection notable for its fun, whimsical designs, and collaboration with artists.
0 Response to "Remember your old cassette tapes? They get transformed into beautiful accessories"
Post a Comment