Most of us over the age of 30 remember the golden age of cassette tapes back when we were young, from the fun of labeling our own mix tapes to the absolute frustration of trying to capture the perfect song from the local radio station and having the effort mangled by the DJ talking over the lyrics. Designer Jeff Skierka has recaptured every square inch of that icon of the 80s and scaled them up into square feet — namely, to make what he calls the Mixtape Table. An exact replica of the classic cassette tape, built at 12 times the size of the original, the table is made of Baltic birch plywood with a maple veneer, walnut “tape” and hand-finished with an oil rub. Made in Seattle — but of course, the very musical (albeit rainy) city that’s brought us everything from Jimi Hendrix, Pearl Jam and Nirvana to Death Cab for Cutie and Band of Horses — the tables are hand-assembled and totally reversible, with an A side and a B side. Standing atop hand-bent steel powder-coated legs, these quirky furniture pieces arrived on the market in 2012, just in time to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the cassette tape itself. Standing just under 18 inches tall and spanning 30″ x 47 1/4″ in diameter, each made-to-order table runs a cool $4950… meaning you’d better sell an awful lot of girl scout cookies or work extra hard on that paper route to enjoy one of these on your own dime, kid.
Photo credits: Jeff Skierka