CD Display Unit

Album art is wonderful to look at right?  My girlfriend and I think so, and we were bothered by the fact that most physical albums, vinyl and CD, are reduced to indistinguishably small slivers in most standard storage devices.  Vinyl gets a some cover art attention with the frames being offered by the likes of Urban Outfitters, but what about all that art on the front of CD's?

It was time to expose the art and do it effectively.  After hashing out a few design ideas it came down to utilizing some easily found materials, museum board and hemp cord, each easily found at any art store.  The result is a minimal system that adapts to fit your needs, but also packs up nicely for people on the move.

As I develop instructions for making the display units you can take a look at some of these photos to get a sense of what is to come.

Cut hemp cord for 10 storage columns, each holding 10 discs.

Assembled columns in their relaxed position, and they bunch up much smaller than shown.

Side view of installed units.

Underside view of the CD platforms.  Lots of knots.

Completed installation waiting to show a 100 album covers the light of day.

Finally, the filled display unit.

Filling the unit is where the fun comes in.  We were able to arrange the discs by a color gradient blue to orange, check out the stop motion of the disc placement here.  Your options with organization are limitless; eventually the columns became dedicated to new releases, favorites, and specific genres.  Best part is that switching albums in and out is quick and easy.

Stay tuned for instructions and details.

The Introduction

The art of making something useful beautiful thrills me. Even the most mundane item can benefit from some clear thinking and experimentation.

Enter me, a curiosity stricken meddler in all things physical, raised a carpenter, trained in architecture, and enthralled by the act of creating and building, the opportunities to explore are endless. As I step into the world of blogs and digital self-expression I hope to preserve the homemade, hand-crafted qualities I have come to value. Even though it took some convincing, I thought it was time to share my ideas with a larger audience, as an effort to foster new, more ambitious creations for myself and hopefully inspire others in the process.

So for those of us with unusual, tight, awkward, or excessive space issues I present projects to help out if you ever find yourself "In A Spot". I will highlight some projects for this first post that I hope to elaborate on in the future. And by elaborate I mean how-to instructions, design background,sketches, photos, and full resource disclosure. Down the road I see this as a useful, tangible resource not an eye-candy blog.  Although the goal is to make beautiful objects, the purpose is to get your fingers off the keys and into the built world.

Here are some preview images...I hope you are curious to create, enjoy.

Wall mounted CD storage:  Detail

Media storage unit

Adjustable corded light holder

Collapsible desk w/movable shelf units

Large map/poster wall hanging system