Does your old typewriter look useless to you? Thanks to Levi’s, it could be turned into a machine for Twitter posts, just as other vintage items gained new functions.
The denim company is not the first to come up with this idea. Less than a month ago I wrote about the Twittertape machine, a device based on Edison’s ticker tape machine that was invented back in 1869. Adam Bautham’s Twittertape machine does not help people keep track of their stocks and shares, but it does print their tweets on a narrow roll of paper. Pretty much the same concept is also used in Levi’s The Makers Tools that reunites long-forgotten things with modern social networks. The Makers Tools were apparently created as a part of Levi’s fall campaign that bears the #MakeOurMark theme. On the other hand, these objects were created for the Station to Station public art project that the denim company put together.
Used for posting updates to Twitter is a 1901 Underwood No. 5 Typewriter. That’s right! A typewriter that is more than a century old is now used for adding tweets to the micro-blogging platform. The new device even uses Nixie tubes to display the 140 character limit, or the remaining characters, if you prefer.
This 1939 Graflex Speed Graphic Camera posts the pictures it takes directly to Instagram. I am not sure if any effects can be added, but even without those, it’s incredible to do such a thing. Most people today cannot imagine using anything but a digital camera (be it a DSLR, compact, bridge, or built into a smartphone) so going back in time to use a film camera for a modern purpose is quite something.
Also linked to Instagram is the 1953 Bolex B-8 Video Camera pictured above. It definitely looks like we’re advancing in time. Personally, I would have altered this video camera so that it connects to Vine instead of Instagram. I’m not sure how vintage video cams handled taking still photos of the subjects, hence my suggestion.
The last item that went back to the future to end up in this collection is an iconic 1953 Gibson ES-125 Guitar that is connected to SoundCloud. The historical objects found in The Makers Tools collection have not only been repurposed. They also went through a redesign, but all in all, the drastic alterations were worth it.
If you liked this post, please check the Twittertape machine that prints tweets the way Edison would have done it, and the
