Steampunk computing

Steampunk is an aesthetic that looks back to Victorian-era machinery, which often was quite elegant, using heterogeneous materials including lots of wood and brass. Victorian tech also often revealed its own complexity, rather than trying to appear simple, as modern devices do.

People are starting to apply this aesthetic to computing devices and other hi-tech applications; see link below.
Some of this stuff is gorgeous – not a word I normally use about technology.
And it’s all handmade.

Wired has a great overview article here:

http://www.wired.com/gadgets/mods/multimedia/2007/06/gallery_steampunk

MAKE magazine has some blow-by-blow accounts of actual fabrication:

http://www.makezine.com/blog/archive/2007/06/steampunk_lcd_monitor_mod.html?CMP=OTC-0D6B48984890

Boing Boing regularly follows cool steampunk artifacts - not just computers.

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/13/steampunk_computing.html

Steampunk Workshop seems poised to start a business:

http://www.steampunkworkshop.com/lcd.shtml

Reclaiming the early keyboard aesthetic:

http://www.steampunkworkshop.com/keyboard.shtml

And finally, why stop with gadgets? Do your whole office:

http://www.boingboing.net/2007/06/13/nautilusinspired_off.html
So how long before consumers get tired of black plastic boxes and start demanding technology that has some (any!) sense of style? I've seen a few feeble efforts in the marketplace, but unless you're willing to do it yourself, at this point in time most of us are stuck with some seriously ugly junk in our offices and living rooms.

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