5 Favorites: Alternative Extension Cords

One of the unfortunate signifiers of the 21st century are cords snaking out of the home office and infiltrating the whole house.

In my apartment, the cords lead to music equipment, laptops used while lounging on the sofa, and chargers for all of life’s devices–and our apartment is blessed with only one ill-placed electrical outlet per room. So I’ve been thinking, why not turn the liability into a design element that we can live with? Towards that end, here are an array of bead, cloth, and flax extension cords that just might be the solution.

Above: Best Made Co.’s Cloth Extension Cord is woven in Massachusetts using three copper wires that are each stranded and covered in PVC insulation. The wires are then twisted together, padded, and braided with a colored cotton weave, available in eight colors (solid gold shown here) for $38 directly through Best Made Co.

Above: From German design group, BLESS, the Wooden Pearls Cable is seven feet long with a grounded three-prong plug and socket; $345 from Stand Up Comedy in Portland, Oregon. 

Above: The 5-metre-long Flax Extension Cord is a collaboration between Dutch designers Christien Meindertsma and Thomas Eyck;  €250 from Thomas Eyck. Read more about the flax collection in our post, Flax Series from Thomas Eyck in the Netherlands.

Above: The Cloth-Covered Household Extension Cord is made from black twisted cotton and measures about 11 feet in length with a white plug and socket; $24. Shown here in black and also available in custom colors through Typewriter Boneyard on Etsy.

Above: An 8-foot-long Cloth-Covered Extension Cord is $39 from So & So.

Above: A DIY solution: the twine-covered extension cord seen on The Vow’s Tumblr.

Above: The Leather Macramé Cord, another design from BLESS; $275 at Stand Up Comedy in Portland, Oregon.

Next up: Cover the TV, hide the microwave, and conceal electrical outlets.