Turning Leather Into a Home for Handhelds
This is just a very small interview (at least by my standards!) with Chi from Mo-Corner, who makes beautiful handmade leather cases and sleeves for handhelds and other bits of tech (iPods, e-readers, handhelds).
I recently got one of her handmade leather sleeves for my RG Rotate, and absolutely love it, so I got chatting to her about the work that goes into making them. There's some really interesting stuff in here about the process, why she makes these things, and the thinking behind designing a case for something as oddly shaped as the Rotate.
I featured Chi's work briefly in my recent RG Rotate recommendations article, but there was a bit more to her work and the process behind these cases that I couldn't really fit into that piece. So I thought it'd be nice to share our chat in full here.
I know this is a little different from the usual handheld stuff I post here, but I really love seeing people making genuinely nice physical things for these devices, and Mo-Corner is a particularly good example of that. Hope some of you enjoy it!
https://gardinerbryant.com/turning-leather-into-a-home-for-handhelds/Open linkView original on lemmy.world
14 replies
I don't have a need for such cases, but the photos are good and I like the idea of making "traditional" cases for modern devices. There was a time when calculators had leather cases and it gave me some nostalgia vibes. Thanks.
🤮
Nothing like normalizing using the skin of a tortured and flayed animal for cutesy cases.
Leather working is pretty normal, actually.
Just because a lot of people do it doesn't mean it's okay, or that we should tolerate the further normalization.
Frankly, it's not normal or common to kill an animal, skin it, fully cure the skin, etc etc. Most people involved are only involved in one step of the process and completely disconnected from the horrific reality of cows being killed for their skin.
Oh fuck off my dude.
If there is meat to be eaten, we may as well put the whole animal to use. I'm sure you're vegan too but that's far from the majority.
And besides, leather alternatives kinda really suck in terms of longevity.
"If there is meat to be eaten..." the meat isn't just sitting there for us to eat. The animal has been deliberately raised, branded, mutilated, and killed for their meat. We don't need to do that in the first place.
I will concede that leather alternatives suck in terms of longevity, however it's worth differentiating between what people need leather equipment for (work boots, etc.) vs what people want it for (retro handheld case).
There's plenty of cases that aren't faux leather that have good durability.
I mean that it’s a practice that’s been around for thousands of years. It is very normal and was extremely common back in the day.
Slavery is also a practice that has been around for thousands of years and was also normal and extremely commn "back in the day." We don't need to continue systems of violence, and by normalizing the purchasing and use of animal skin, animals are having violence directly enacted upon them.
comparing slaves to animals is what slavers do
Both slavery and the animal exploitation industry are institutionalized systems of oppression and violence, and both are horrific and should be eradicated. Maybe you should ask yourself why "being treated like an animal" is a euphemism for being mistreated.
it's literally dehumanizing. that's it.
You’re right. I’m only saying that it is, in fact, already normalized.
Fair enough.