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The Giphoscope turns your favorite GIF into a hand-cranked work of art

The Giphoscope turns your favorite GIF into a hand-cranked work of art

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The Giphoscope
The Giphoscope

If you were to accuse us of being fans of GIFs we wouldn't disagree, but what happens when you want to share that perfect, singular moment away from the confines of a computer screens? One particularly beautiful solution is called The Giphoscope. The work of Marco Calabrese and Alessandro Scali, it's made up of an aluminum frame mounted on a base of italian walnut. Your GIF is then broken down into individual images, which are mounted onto individual cards around a central core. Cranking through the images relies on persistence of vision to create the looped movement of the original GIF, mashing up your imagery with the hand-crafted charm of some of the earliest motion picture devices (the creators point to the Mutoscope as their inspiration).

Each individual unit is put together by hand, with the type of aluminum and the color of the wood and screws all specifically chosen to work in concert with the GIF itself. It's a breathtaking piece of design and craftsmanship, though with prices starting at €299 (around $403) you'll certainly be paying for that attention to detail. Of course, when it comes to creating the perfect GIF — or finding the perfect way to show it off — is money really a factor?

Gliphoscope