As cool as the craftsmanship is, I simply could not find a reason to keep this wooden DVD / CD-Rom case anymore. Granted, I held onto it for almost 20 years, but with the creation of this site (and the shrinking of the storage capacity of my now-finished basement), I took a long hard look at what should be kept – especially for things that just look nice but serve no real purpose.
In 1999 I was anxious to move on from my role as an Interactive Developer at a Post Production house. I simply wasn’t doing that much and feared management might look to cut ties, if I didn’t do so first. A Graphic Designer coworker had landed an opportunity with a local ad agency, and part of her effort was creating a fancy portfolio for them to review. I decided I wanted to do the same – but what would I hand them, in digital form?
I decided a fancy wooden CD-Rom case would do well to show them the programs I had created in Macromedia/Adobe Director, and saved to disc. I had visited a local Woodcraft store to buy my dad a Father’s Day gift, and had seen postings in the entrance for local woodworkers who could craft things for you, so I contacted one of them and pitched him my idea.
He took it and ran with it. In all he created three wooden CD-Rom cases for me, for a total of $35. If I remember correctly, each one was built out of white oak, and used a rare earth magnet to keep the CD case closed.
I only needed to use one; I put my 4 to 5 programs on a CD-Rom, put it in the best of the three wooden cases, and sent it off to the ad agency looking for interactive help. I got the job within three weeks.
All these years later I held onto this last case because it was just such a neat piece of craftsmanship. That said, I do not have any cds to store in it, I’m hoping never to apply for another position, and even when I do, I won’t be sharing my now-dated portfolio.
Time to get rid of it.
