Reader of the Week: Markie Deleavey
Accessories designer from Glasgow, Scotland
By Jihanah Rasul
Published: March 4th, 2008 | 10:45am
In addition to making coin purses out of cassette tapes, what other things can we expect in the future of your business, Librarian Barbarian?
I’m planning to make some accessories out of old game cartridges, Betamax tapes, and 8-tracks. I was thinking about fanny packs, but I’ll have to see how that goes. I also want to begin making some library-oriented merchandise that focus on Dewey Decimal mantras and Public Library slogans.
How did you come up with the idea of turning cassette tapes into wallets?
My coin purses are an elaborated adaptation of similar crafts I’ve seen floating around the Internet. I first saw versions of cassette wallets last spring, constructed with a zipper around its perimeter and square of felt inside. I took a crack at it but wasn’t very impressed. I found it flimsy and impractical for holding coinage, so I decided to try to design a wallet that better suited my purposes. I liked working with cassettes and have a strange fascination for objects that have volume, so I aimed for a combination of both elements.
Do you describe yourself as a designer or a crafter?
There is a dialectic of sorts between craft and design. To me, they are one and the same. The conception of design needs the practicality of craft and visa versa to accomplish an end result. Since I have end results, I must describe myself as both.
Where do you find cassette tapes to make your wallets?
Thrift stores. All my old tapes are back home in Canada, so I have to rummage through piles of cassettes tapes at charity shops. I must’ve picked Glasgow’s West End clean from its nifty looking tapes. But I have friends who are now keeping an eye out for me and I am going to try to “free-cycle” some.
Why cassette tapes? Did you ever use VHS tapes in your creation?
Cassette tapes are cheap, plentiful, and need to be salvaged and reused. They do not deteriorate or at least won’t for a heck of a long time. It’s also neat to turn an item people have a fond nostalgic connection — or at least a legacy that younger generations have heard of — with into an everyday practical item. So many people get a kick out of the long-forgotten, corny, or just plain random cassettes I find. For instance, a soundtrack to an Atari arcade game, a punk compilation from 1984 that features Czechoslovakian and Hungarian bands, and even an old Commodore 64 game.
The novelty of the name combined with the colors and cute compact shape of the wallet have made people giggle and reminisce. I don’t know if cassettes will ever make a comeback the way vinyl has, but at least by recycling them it will not only help reduce waste and give our old analogue friends a second chance.
—
Want to be our Reader of the Week? Become our pal on MySpace.com/venuszine.
Issue #35
Comments
Please login to be able to comment on this article.
more