Walk the halls of Macworld or the Consumer Electronics Show for too long, and the sheer googolplex of injection-molded iCases hanging all around can actually make you go cross-eyed. The bedazzled ones are especially dangerous—that’s a medical fact.
Category: Cases
Works With: Any iPad
Price: $50
Bucking that trend, the Zattere from Papernomad is a naturally-crafted iPad sleeve you’ll enjoy looking upon as much as using. No, paper, wool, cotton, and thread might not sound like the materials that belong in a protective iPad sleeve, but they do work well, and then there’s this: in five years, a plastic case will look positively forlorn; paper though, artfully aged with your doodles and sketches, becomes an artifact you may wish to keep even after its utility has long gone astray.
What It Does
At its most basic level, the Zattere is a padded sleeve you slip your iPad into when you want to tote it about. But get one in your hands, and can you tell it’s more special than that.
While most cases we test are made from cheap plastic, Zattere is actually made from natural materials. Its outer skin, crafted from a tough “composite” paper Zattere has patented, feels great in the hands, but best of all, it’s perfectly suited for pencil, pen, or paint.
Lining the Zattere is a green wool that, paired against the brown composite paper, is just the right about of analogs-meets-modern. The color combination works very well too.
Cotton provides the padding between the Zattere’s paper walls, and a magnet-secured hemp strap keeps the top of the sleeve closed so the Zattere doesn’t spit your iPad out into your bag.
In Use
Though few cases offer a good mixture of protection and grand aesthetic, Zattere accomplishes the blend. Papernomad uses the word “analogue” a lot when describing the Zattere, and I think it fits. This is a product from another time. Here’s a case that offers good protection for your iPad, but reminds you of days when products were made with things that came from the earth.
Natural good-looks aside, another benefit of the Zattere paper skin is that you can draw all over it. I gave mine to Skylar Berry, my talented artsy friend, and she covered it with art I truly love. Because of that, now, even more than before, the Zattere is a place I want my iPad to reside.
I do wonder how well Zattere will withstand the test of time, though. You know, getting pulled in and out of bags; existing through the rigors of daily life. Though Papernomad says they designed the Zattere to return eventually to whence it came, the earth, they believe it should not do so until until well after your device does.
Time will tell, but before dust goes to dust, you’ll have a beautiful paper and wool case which looks good au natural, or tatted with the ink of poem, art, sketch, or doodle.
Product Name: Zattere iPad Sleeve. The Good: Beautifully constructed with natural products. The Bad: Longevity might be an issue. The Verdict Not like other iPad cases in a very good way. Buy from: Papernomad |
[rating=excellent]