Root Cases iPad case clothes your iPad in wood
There’s nothing new about beautifully looking iPad cases made by natural materials, but there’s still something that makes me go “!!!” when I see a new version of the concept. The wooden iPad case from Root Cases is no exception, and I can best describe it as a DODOcase made from wood. It’s a book style case that holds you iPad in place while protecting it with wooden covers on either side. It works as a stand to some degree by flipping the cover over and raising the back of the iPad with the spine, but it’s definitely not a case for those who want as much functionality as possible. It does however look ridiculously awesome with the walnut wood, leather spine and laser engraved logo.
What this really reminds me of though is a guest book. Here in the mountainous country of Norway, being a tourist basically means running off to the nearest mountain and doing something – be it hiking, skiing, mountain biking or whatever. What all these activities have in common is that you can’t throw a rock while doing them without hitting some form of lodge, hotel or restaurant that is set up to capitalize on the nature loving tourists. Inside pretty much all of these places you’ll find a guest book that gives tourists a somewhat less rude way of saying “I was here” than pissing a circle around the place would be. These guest books are often made from leather or wood, often carved to look fancier than anything in the place. When I saw this iPad case, my immediate idea was to run off to the nearest guest book and replace it with an iPad in one of these cases. Think about it; an iPad 2 in this case and with the latest version of Penultimate installed would be the perfect guest book for the 21st century (as long as it’s placed where someone can keep an eye on it). You sign your name, insert a picture of yourself with the camera and write a short message to the establishment. Photos would add a very personal touch to the message, you’d never run out of pages, more people would sign it because it is a gadget and you could even let people send the entire guest book to themselves as an email attachment.
I might be dreaming a bit on revolutionizing guest books, but still – this case is a looker. At $79 it’s cheap for something that…woody. They obviously have laser engraving equipment on hand, so I’m hoping that they’ll add a premium version in the future that lets you custom engrave the entire front cover.
[Root Cases via Engadget]
