Pappa*phone is $300 of walnut and brass

Come to Pappa*phone.

Cut from american walnut and brass by Montreal’s Furni, this VoIP handset merges the old and the new in a way that, frankly, does it for me. Gadgets made of wood, in this ostentatious manner, usually evince little in the way of design chops. This, however, looks absolutely wonderful.

Here’s the litmus test for gear made of fancy materials: “If it were made of gray plastic, would it still be cool?”

And here’s the more down-to-earth test: “If it were made of gray plastic, would it still be $300?”

Pappa works with Skype, iChat and other such services on Windows and OSX. The cord is 1.5 meters long. Delivery in 6-8 weeks.

MocoLoco has an intriguing gallery of photos, demonstrating how the creators work:

Product Page [Hulger via MocoLoco]

1. [dculberson]

   At least they used round wire instead of modern flat handset wire. It looks a lot more classic that way.

2. [bbonyx]

   That bottom shot makes me want to go home and pull my Cuboro out of the closet.

3. [kaiza]

   #1 BRILLIANT!

   You heard it here first folks – a laptop that has a curved laminated timber outer and leather inner ala the Eames Lounge Chair.

4. [strider_mt2k]

   I have to agree it’s dead sexy.

5. [arikol]

   If they’re doing a pretty wood thing like that then please do fabric covered wires as well. Those plastic coated wires are fugly.

6. [Jake von Slatt]

   I told you Eamespunk was going to be big.

7. [strider_mt2k]

   I’m not down with the wires, although the look is charming.

   I’d bluetooth-up the handset, perhaps making the base it’s charger.

8. [Rob Beschizza]

   Jake, you are so right.

   Strider, don’t the wires add a certain Galactica-esque je ne sais quoi?