The other day at my in-laws’ house, my 6-year-old picked up a rogue DVD and asked, “Why is this record so small?”
Imagine her puzzled face when I tried explaining cassette tapes to her.
They may now be considered retro, but cassettes have a special meaning to me. My late father, a radio DJ, used to make me mix tapes of all the latest tunes that appealed to him, and I’d do the same in return—he’d listen intently to all the hits from the boy bands and hip-hop groups of the late ’90s to early 2000s. They say that having kids teaches you patience, and that’s true, but I also remember what it was like to wait, finger ready at the record button, for the radio station to play your favorite song so you could make a copy of it for yourself, on the cassette tape.
I certainly wasn’t the only attendee of this spring’s Couture show in Vegas to think Sorellina’s tactile cassette tape creation is amazing—there was much chatter about the diamond-studded piece, which came away with the 2024 Couture “Best in Innovative” Design Award. But my attraction to it was mostly sentimental; as all good jewelry does, it brought up all sorts of feelings.
Encased in 18k yellow gold and rich with sparkle—the spool of tape is made up of white sapphires and diamonds—the generously sized cassette charm is ideally paired, as shown at top, on Sorellina’s Playlist necklace with the brand’s golden pencil pendant, whose tip can be used to fast-forward or rewind the tape the way a real one would.
Top: Sorellina’s cassette tape pendant in 18k yellow gold with 40.05 ct. white sapphires and 1.01 cts. t.w. diamonds ($23,500) and cassette key pencil pendant in 18k yellow gold with 0.68 ct. pink opal eraser and 0.37 ct. t.w. diamonds ($6,000) on Playlist necklace in 18k yellow gold with 20.37 cts. t.w. rock crystal, 3.53 cts. t.w. white topaz, and 0.2 ct. t.w. diamonds ($22,000)
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