The Giphoscope

Forget thick-rimmed glasses and how many hits you had on Tumblr; the best way to prove your cool credentials (for now) is proudly displaying a Giphoscope on your vintage side table; a custom-built machine that turns short video clips and Vines, into a series of images that are printed onto the flip pages of the device. In other words, a manual way to watch GIFs...

The most interesting fact is that this invention isn't actually new, it dates back in 19^th century. Italian designers Marco Calabrese and Alessandro Scali were inspired by the 19^th century Mutoscope player, an early motion picture device that used images in see-through cards that rotated around in almost the exact same manner as the Giphoscope does today. The Mutoscope worked similarly to the flip-book, considered the follow up to Thomas Edison’s Kinetoscope.

The sleek Giphoscope is custom-built in Italy, costing 300 Euros. All you have to do is send a digital copy of the clip you want, and they will match the scene to the colour of metal and deliver it within 7-10 days.

But isn't the first time a company has created an offline version of the popular moving images. Brooklyn-based designers Sha Hwang and Rachel Binx recently created a company called Gifpop! that was funded by a Kickstarter campaign to print animated GIFs onto lenticular film which appears to move as the viewer moves. You might remember this type of printing from your childhood stickers and picture books.

We are always fans of bringing back retro technology, but if they are going to do that, then at least give us retro prices. Here's hoping this ushers in a new wave of retro technology like vinyl players, bicycles and Gameboys, because the last thing homes need are even bigger TVs.