Fleece-Lined Envelope

Drooling over Apple’s uber-buzzed MacBook Air? As will all hot new products, accessories and add-on never take long to follow. At CES, Steve Jobs pulled the Air out of a manila envelope for its world debut.

Who knew his humorous little act would actually inspire a design duo to create a sleeve for the world’s skinniest notebook to date?

The sleeve was created by Jona Bechtolt and Claire L. Evans. It actually looks like a basic paper folder with a string and circular nob to wrap it around. A plain, paper envelope. Of course, it’s not just made of paper; it still has to offer protective functions.

“This sleeve is handmade from ‘durable upholstery-grade vinyl and lined with fuzzy, soft fleece,’ which should protect your forthcoming MBA from all but the nastiest of bumps,” Engadget said. “Supposedly, you can pre-order one now for $29.95 and expect it to arrive right alongside your new micro-rig, but if these truly are handmade, we’d go ahead and expect a backlog.”

I’m sure this will just be one of many MacBook Air Sleeves we’ll see hitting the market soon. Designers need to keep in mind though that reason people would want a notebook this skinny would be for its slender attributes. Adding a bulky case may protect it, but it would defeat the purpose of the aesthetics. This calls for creativity!