Hulger carves world first with Skype wooden handset

Boutique phone design group Hulger has created what it claims is the world’s first wooden Skype handset, launching in shops this week.


The sleek handset was created in collaboration with design-led furniture workshop Furni, based in Montreal, which approached Hulger in January this year.


Handcrafted from single pieces of sustainable American walnut and solid brass, the Pappa handset has no buttons and plugs directly into a computer USB port.


In a brave departure from the current glut of mass-produced and throwaway technology, the handset has been created to ‘wear in, not wear out’, explains Hulger managing director Michael George.


‘We always wanted to make a wooden phone, because wood is one of those materials that gets better with age,’ explains George.


‘Most technology is at its best when you first take it out of the box, but our guiding principle is to create products that get better and more personal as they get older – much like old wooden gramophones and television sets,’ he adds.


You can even use Danish oil and Brasso to treat the handset when it begins to loose its original sheen because, ‘the more it is cared for, the more precious it becomes’ George says. ‘If all technology products were like this we wouldn’t need to replace or upgrade every year. We have designed a phone that will never become obsolete’.


The Pappa will be on show at Beyond the Valley, Newburgh Street, London W1, for the duration of the London Design Festival, from 13-23 September.

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