Design & Architecture (materials)

An experiment with cassette tape took Texas-based artist Alyce Santoro’s knitting in a new direction. The result? The Sonic Fabric, created from woven recycled audio tape--something we brought to your attention a while back. Well, now Santoro has teamed up with one of TreeHugger’s favorite sustainable designers, textile manufacturer Designtex, in collaboration with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, to launch the fabric at the International Contemporary Furniture Fair in New York. The multi-purpose textile, appropriately, has its own track. Draw a tape head from a revamped Walkman over its surface and you’ll hear a medley of sound Santoro recorded from musicians on subway platforms, conversations, and city streets. It's also amazingly durable, thanks to the tape, which is the thickest 100 percent polyester tape product on the market, and the best for recording. Applications range from upholstery, wallcovering, to drapery, in markets including hospitality, corporate, and residential, says Designtex. Thanks tipster Meg. ::Alyce Santoro ::Designtex