Grid Studio
The GRID Studio iPhone 4.
I have recently been gifted a pair of iPhones - the iPhone 4 & X - from GRID Studio. Over the past year, GRID Studio has been making a name for itself across social media with its framed deconstructions of beloved Apple devices. However, they have also expanded to include framed deconstructions of Nintendo's Game Boy, RIM's Blackberry Bold, the Sony PSP, and more.
I'd been lurking their site for some time because I had my eye on memorializing a particular Apple device that holds a lot of sentimental memory to me: the iPhone 4. Released in 2010, the iPhone 4 is one of the most beautifully crafted products I've owned and a true technical marvel when it was released. Many of its debut design features: integrated stainless steel antenna band, glass back, front-facing camera, FaceTime, & the Retina display are features of smartphones many simply take for granted now. It's also the first (and only) Apple product I camped out for - a now-dead tradition among Apple fanatics.
Upon wrapping the frame, what instantly struck me about the GRID Studio's iPhone 4 was how beautiful the inside components of the phone were. Their layout, fit and finish, & the harmony between the elements gave me a new appreciation for these incredible devices we all carry around. Seeing the phone laid out in this way brought to mind a lesson Jobs shared his father had instilled in him:
"When you're a carpenter making a beautiful chest of drawers, you're not going to use a piece of plywood on the back, even though it faces the wall and nobody will ever see it. You'll know it's there, so you're going to use a beautiful piece of wood on the back. For you to sleep well at night, the aesthetic, the quality, has to be carried all the way through."
- From Steve Jobs by Walter Isaacson
The quality of the unseen things matters because it reflects the craftsman's values - even if no one else will ever see those details. This is an ethic I aspire to bring to whatever tasks I take on, and something these frames beautifully remind me of.
GRID Studio's iPhone lineup ranges from $139-$399, making the GRID Studio frames an investment. However, their fit and finish show a lot of reverence to the products they display and would make a great accent piece for someone who appreciates technology.
