Gallery: Vintage Circuit Boards Create Stunning Sculptures
01introduction-2
At first glance, electronic circuit boards may seem as far from art as you can get. But look closer, and the boards have patterns & mdash; horizontal and vertical grids that have a strange, precise beauty to them. It's the kind of beauty that we perceive in the whorls of a seashell or a grain of wood, says [Theo Kamecke](http://www.theokamecke.com), an artist who is taking vintage circuit boards and transforming them into pieces that can adorn homes and galleries. Kamecke has harvested the etching from the boards, then affixed them to hardwood to create the effect of polished metal on stone. The results are exquisitely decorated chests, sculptures and boxes. "Either you get it or you don't, either you like it or you don't," says Kamecke. "I don't mass-produce these, and no one else makes them." Kamecke uses a technique called [marquetry](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marquetry) that's popular among furniture makers. But he has added a high-tech twist to it that hasn't been done by anyone else. "There is a neat aesthetic to it," says Phil Torrone, senior editor at Make magazine and creative director at Adafruit, an online store catering to the DIY crowd. "It has a futuristic, yet Egyptian and retro, feel to it." [Adafruit](http://www.adafruit.com) has featured Kamecke as its summer artist on the company's website. Kamecke's work has found a place in art galleries and has been acquired by Hollywood director James Cameron and Swiss surrealist [H.R. Giger](http://stag-komodo.wired.com/underwire/2010/02/hr-gigers-cyborg-horror-merges-sex-tech-legend/). The pieces cost anywhere from "a few thousand dollars to many thousand," says Kamecke. But each is painstakingly crafted by hand. "It's unique and going to go away after Theo," says Torrone. "The kind of circuit boards that he uses are not being manufactured anymore." __Above:__ Theo Kamecke named this chest *Byzantine*, because its motifs remind him of art from that era. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
02buckle
Repurposing Vintage Circuit Boards ---------------------------------- Theo Kamecke became fascinated by circuit boards in the late 1960s. But it wasn't until about 20 years later that he started thinking of them as art material. He started collecting tons of vintage circuit boards, many directly from manufacturers, with the idea that he would turn them into works of art. "I went to dozens of circuit-board manufacturers and asked them to give me their overruns," he says. Kamecke has been particular about using vintage boards. The reason: Many of the circuit boards made in the 1960s and 1970s were handmade. "In the 1960s, they designed large circuit boards that would end up being 6 inches by 6 inches in size,” says Kamecke.“They would do it on a big board and use chart tape for someone to lay out the circuit. "It makes the older boards more interesting to look at," he says. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
03buckleopen
Treasure Chest -------------- Theo Kamecke’s circuit-board art often takes the shape of a small box or chest. This chest, called *Buckle*, took about three weeks to fashion. The key to his art is discerning the pattern in the circuit board and then transferring it to the furniture. *Buckle* is 16 inches long, 12 inches wide and 7 inches tall. "I call it a manuscript chest," says Kamecke, "though you could probably store other things in it too." Kamecke says he started out creating functional pieces but is now working on sculptures that can showcase the circuitry. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
Photo: Rachel Edidin04harlequin
Creating Digital Art for Everyone --------------------------------- Another chest from Theo Kamecke’s collection is the intriguingly named *Harlequin*. The detail on *Harlequin* shows how etchings and lines that run on a circuit board can be translated into art. Kamecke himself builds the chests and the furniture out of hardwood. Though he says he doesn't like carpentry much, he wants to get the form right. "I like to think that I am trying to make something comfortable and beautiful," says Kamecke. "You don't need to understand much about computers to appreciate this." *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
05juke
Digital Jukebox --------------- Theo Kamecke’s work sometimes brings together art and electronics in surprising ways. After years of listening to jukeboxes, he decided to create one himself. This large piece show is impressive not just for the circuitry that adorns it, but also because it is functional. Kamecke got a few musicians to record the bass lines from some of his favorite songs from the 1960s and 1970s. He also installed a music system inside the jukebox so it could play the songs they recorded. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
06nefertiti-detail
A Closer Look ------------- The key to Kamecke’s art is the vintage circuit boards, especially those that were handmade. "Workers painted traces on the boards, and they were uneven and had different widths," says Torrone. “They were more like etchings in ivory." The handmade quality also resulted in imperfections that make these circuit boards stand out. "Human eyes are really good at picking up the little inconsistencies," he says. "And it makes these objects stand out. You are going to see more mass-manufacturing imitate this human look." Miniaturization has also led to circuit boards losing some of their beauty, says Make magazine editor Phil Torrone. "Everything is so small today that when you look at a circuit board, it is filled with chips and there’s so little pattern left to see," he says. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
07nefertiti-open
*Nefertiti* Cabinet ------------------- A good portion of Theo Kamecke's pieces have been standard chests and cabinets. But occasionally the circuitry he has harvested demands an entirely new form, as with the *Nefertiti* cabinet. It's his most complex piece. "I thought up a design for the form of the cabinet that would work best for the art," says Kamecke. "The circuitry winds continously on all the sides." To create it, Kamecke had to cut paper into the width of the circuits, coat it, lay it on the frame using push pins, and then do the marquetry. "I will never do anything like that again," he says. "It was too much." *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
08ra
Electronic Tribute to the Gods ------------------------------ Many of Theo Kamecke’s pieces are sold through galleries. One that ended up with Hollywood director James Cameron is the work called *Ra*. "I wanted to create a sculpture that could be a suitable place for gods to dwell in," he says. With its Egyptian aesthetic, *Ra* seemed to be the right tribute. *Photo: Theo Kamecke*
09zoroaster
Art for Everyone ---------------- Theo Kamecke's pieces create motifs from circuit boards -- but they are not just for geeks. "I am down there on the lower rungs when it comes to technology," he says. "I understand how computers work and did that 30 years ago even before most people. But this is not about computers." Kamecke hopes his work will be appreciated by anyone who understands and sees beauty in technology. "At first, I was looking over my shoulder and felt someone was going to copy me. But then I realized no one is is going to do this," he says. "It's too hard." *Photo:* Zoroaster*, by Theo Kamecke*
