#HTE
Leather Turntables, Yea or Nay?
I once had a certain famous designer as a tirade-prone ID professor. One time, a student presented an object that was typically made of wood, but instead he’d fabricated it out of metal. He accompanied the design with a flowery description as to why he made the material change. The professor let him have it. “No, no, no!” He yelled. “You don’t switch materials for the sake of switching materials. There is nothing profound about this.” The materials, he insisted, had to serve the object’s function and manufacturability.
I agree with him in spirit, but occasionally a material-swapped item does catch my eye. Like this team-up between stereo manufacture,r Crosley Radio, and leather supplier, Moore & Giles. Their co-produced Commonwealth Collection C10 Turntable has a plinth made of wood inlaid with luxurious-looking leather.
Mahogany & Black Calf. The mahogany wood finish is inlaid with calfskin in a sophisticated, smooth matte black. Synonymous with luxury, the small, supple hides are tanned in northern Italy by a family tannery specializing in calf. With use, the flat black color will polish to a handsome luster.
Birch & Modern Saddle. The birch wood finish is paired with a pebbly, vegetable tanned leather called Modern Saddle from a small producer just outside of Pisa, Italy. Each hide is tanned for two month, deepening the color and accentuating the texture of the finished leather. Over time, you can expect Modern Saddle to evolve from its initial golden color, burnishing into a rich shade of dark caramel.
As you can see, the platter mats appear to be leather too. If you’re wondering what those lines in it are, they’ve laser-etched in “the topography of the land between Lynchburg and Louisville—the companies’ respective home bases—as an abstract nod to the historical and geographic proximity shared by Crosley and Moore & Giles. These concentric lines of the topographical map echo the concentric lines engraved on a record.”
Seeking to underscore the tactile appeal of the record playing experience – the weight of the vinyl, the intricacy of the album art, the ceremony of dropping the needle – by adding extraordinary leather textures and laser-cut detailing to the player’s physical design, the Commonwealth Collection C10 Turntable is a record collector’s dream.
The $840 CC C10 goes up for pre-sale this week, though few of you will be able to buy these—they’re only making 20 of each.
The leather admittedly doesn’t add anything to the function or manufacturability, and perhaps an audiophile would insist that the platter mat needs to be something synthetic and perfectly flat, but it does do something for the experience, no? Ah, what do I know, I believe that professor gave me a “C.”
http://www.core77.com/posts/57314/Leather-Turntables-Yea-or-Nay