SINGAPORE, April 1 — In a world dominated by a culture that downloads and consumes entertainment digitally, analogue items such as cassette tapes are slowly dissapearing.
Moreover, there is also the perpetual problem of e-waste filling up landfills faster than we can recycle. An up-cycling initiative under the Rehyphen® studio by Singapore-based Jessica Chuan Yi Xin (or JJ as she is better known) collects discarded cassette tapes from the local community which is converted into a fabric she calls a MusicCloth®.
“We want people to be encouraged to see waste with a fresh perspective and get curious about how things are made,” she explained about her initiative that started back in 2016.
The fashion design graduate from the prestigious Parsons School of Design in New York who was born in Malaysia, wears many hats, as she calls herself a globalist, change maker and memory keeper.
“We send out gentle, creative messages, hoping to trigger conversations about social change. We started a project, instead of a global business. Our strategy is no longer about price, product and promotion. We care more about people, the planet and progress.”
The idea to use cassette tapes was born out of a decluttering exercise when she first returned from New York. JJ had stumbled upon an old stash of cassette tapes, memories from keeping in touch with her best friend who was studying in Australia.
Those days, they would record what they wanted to say to each other together with their favourite music — a form of musical postcard to keep in touch. Armed with a needle and lots of patience, she and her mother used a traditional basket weaving pattern to convert the delicate polyester film with metallic coating into something memorable... a piece of fabric.
“This was a project which my mum and I started together. We took about three months to work out a proper way to weave the cassette tape,” she explained. Initial efforts yielded a “cloth” with very raw finishing, where they tied knots at the end. Later, after six months, they polished up their technique, until it became a “cloth” with a clean edge, which she renamed as MusicCloth®.
Using that MusicCloth®, the first product launched in November 2016 were tote bags that she placed on the crowdfunding platform, Kickstarter. The bags were incredibly labour intensive, requiring many hours to weave the cassette tapes. These were fashioned into bags of various sizes. With the money raised from the initiative, JJ sent out the bags to the backers.
Later, the MusicCloth® was developed into a exhibition piece for TED (a non-profit organisation that spreads ideas), a dress and even a scarf. A collaboration with Acasa Project from Indonesia also saw them converting the woven cassette tapes into a notebook.
Later on, other products released under the studio included various city maps and world map posters. You can even make the MusicCloth® into customised portraits.
The idea behind MusicCloth® has also been recognised by many, like the University of Pennsylvania which stores the swatches in their material resources lab.
You can also find the MusicCloth® stored in Material ConneXion, a consultancy company that is well known for its extensive database on materials. In addition, they have also been selected to be in the Red Dot 21, an online portal of excellent design in the 21st century, under the flooring and decor category.
Taking further their idea, JJ and her mother have also joined hands with AirBnB where they run their “Ready, Cassette, GO!” workshops teaching people to weave the cassette tapes.
For one to two hours, they invite participants to visit their home studio in Bukit Panjang where they learn to weave the tapes into a Singapore city map poster. It has been rewarding for JJ and her mother, as they have met people from the United Kingdom, US, The Philippines, Amsterdam and so forth.
Moreover, they are able to reach a younger crowd who have no idea about the use of cassette tapes or the music revolution. “The idea behind the experience is not to just offer an innovative product but a system that embraces the change, where local and foreign visitors can participate in this social practice and reimagine how we care for our planet and challenge our community to make waste and memories beautiful,” she explained.
As word spread about their collection of discarded cassette tapes, they have also accumulated many tapes from people. The Singapore Press Holdings and United International Pictures have also donated their cassette tapes to them.
This March, they launched a new product, using the empty cassette cases stripped from the thin polyester film that have been used to weave the MusicCloth®.
JJ will recycle them with short and meaningful quotes that allow you to inspire someone. If you prefer, you can also customise the quote printed on the tape, making them modern postcards you can send out.
In addition, they have also developed a series of accessories repurposed from leftover mini DV tape holders which are embedded with Swarovski crystals.
Another unusual product is their MusicCloth® Ezlink card sticker, with unique colour combinations and patterns. This January, they launched their Make/100 MusicCloth® city map poster on Kickstarter to develop various city map posters.
On April 7, you have a chance to meet JJ as she’ll be bringing her “Ready, Cassette, GO!” workshop to Koncent Malaysia (https://www.facebook.com/koncentmy/).
The two-hour session will teach participants how to weave the MusicCloth® that can be used to make a Kuala Lumpur city map or silhouette portrait. With this workshop, JJ hopes that it’ll encourage change and demonstrate to others that one can elevate everyday objects to become a work of art.
“Music is a universal language that ties people together. It has the power to change the world and even address our global e-waste issues by transforming it into another form that will inspire a global community.”
Rehyphen®
Website: https://www.rehyphen.org
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Rehyphen-1666710140258000/
