


The backside of the Game Boy’s frame helped me recall road trips when I filled the Pokédex in Pokémon Red and moved up levels in The Bugs Bunny Crazy Castle with a pack of AA batteries by my side.
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The PSP 1000’s UMD tray brought back memories of sliding in Metal Gear Acid. It cropped up in the strangest spots, too. Each piece feels like a work of art, and the fine details drum up a flood of nostalgia.įor me, that nostalgia is for handheld gaming devices, though Grid Studio focuses primarily on mobile devices and Apple products. Grid Studio helps save discarded tech, but the company goes a long way beyond preservation. A flood of nostalgia Jacob Roach / Digital Trends Grid Studio uses all original components, but the company opts for models in the case of batteries, which may pose a risk down the line. And they’re built to hang on your wall for years. The process remains the same - Grid Studio takes apart broken devices, carefully lays out the components, and packages them as art. After seeing the final result, the three went in to make a business out of the hobby. One of the three co-founders took apart a device on “a whim,” carefully painting and gluing the components to paper. Allen said that all devices that are eventually transformed into frames come “from repairers and retro collectors,” ensuring that Grid Studio isn’t ruining a device that is still functional.Īlthough Grid Studio has grown since it launched in 2020, the business started as a side project. The business functions on the back of old devices that no longer work. Instead of going after new products, Grid Studio focuses exclusively on devices that would end up in a landfill, and those that can strike a particular vein of nostalgia. It’s still precious,” said Joe Allen, one of three co-founders of Grid Studio. To me, a device that doesn’t work anymore is not trash. The company’s tagline, “every classic deserves to be framed,” sets the mark for what types of products Grid Studio goes after and the purpose they serve when they’re turned into art. It’s one thing to take a device apart and put it into a frame, but that’s not the point of Grid Studio. From landfill to frame Jacob Roach / Digital Trends In honor of Earth Day, I spoke with one of the co-founders of Grid Studio and got my hands on a couple of frames to understand how the company keeps forgotten tech from ending up in the trash. Just seeing one of Grid Studio’s pieces can bring back a sea of memories, but nostalgia isn’t all Grid Studio is gunning for.
