Creative Ways To Display A Vinyl Record Collection

Maybe you’ve been amassing a pile of vinyl since “Thriller” was released, or perhaps you’re continuing to add to an inherited stack handed down through generations—or maybe you’re new to the scene altogether.

The beauty of LPs is their appeal is as auditory as it is visual. “Vinyl records are to an audiophile what trophies are to an athlete: a symbol of passion,” says Amy Vroom owner of The Residency Bureau design studio in Seattle.

Part of the joy in having them is how they’re displayed. Here, ideas from the design pros to maximize your collection for your listening and viewing pleasure.

Curate the Experience

“Displaying a record collection is an opportunity to create visual interest or a curated immersive experience. A shelf full of records alone is a study in texture, whether organized randomly or arranged by colour. An entire room can be transformed into a visual and auditory experience with a fluid temporal component as memories are triggered by navigating the soundtracks of time past.

“It is important to give the user the space and furnishings that facilitate lingering. Absorbing an entire LP is an opportunity for escape. The optimal record experience includes a cozy chair, a good sound system and room to rearrange the collection for a curated experience. Room should be considered for a small collection on heavy rotation in close proximity to the turntable and lounge chair(s).

“The most alluring presentation of a record collection includes a combination of albums displayed with cover art in view and the majority of the collection arranged side by side, inviting the viewer to dig deeper into the collection. Presenting records facing the viewer at counter-top height is a convenient way to allow users to thumb through a collection.”

Give It prominence

“A record display serves as a constant reminder of your love of music and sound. Any time I can design with my client’s interests in mind, I create more meaningful spaces for them. Finding subtle but imaginative ways to echo a passion for music is an amazing way to integrate vinyl and record players into a space without going over the top.

“One idea is to use a box-like shelf that has the width of a record and sufficient depth to store many albums at a time. You can flip through them like you would in a record shop. Then you can always swap out the first in the group as an ever-changing display. For one project, I selected a credenza with a pattern carved in wood that evokes the lines of a sound frequency. It’s something you might not notice consciously but creates an overall sense of cohesion.

“If someone is a true audiophile, the record player needs to be front and centre. It becomes the heart of the room—whether it’s a night in or a conversation point when entertaining. I always advise people not to put a record player behind closed doors if they want to listen to albums.

— Amy Vroom owner of The Residency Bureau design studio in Seattle

Make It Part of the Décor

“You can learn so much about someone by their musical taste, so why not let that shine through in a home. A record display is another way of telling your story to family and friends, adding a very personal element to any room.

“Instead of covering the walls of your living room in art, try a display of record jackets that can rotate as your mood, preferences and décor changes. Many record jackets are quite beautiful, with quite a bit of creative effort put into making them. For a recent project, I installed thin, arrow ledge-like shelves on the walls to exhibit different album jackets. Each one is fun and colourful, and all together they make a bold impact.

“In addition to the main living room, a smaller library or office is a great place to spotlight a record collection. No matter where you put your record player and vinyls, find a beautiful cabinet with open shelves for records below and place the player on top.

“Elevating the equipment, as well as the record jackets, makes it feel special. For a recent project, instead of hiding stereo equipment in a cabinet, we put them on display. This client has a turntable that is so well crafted, it’s truly a work of art, and I am turning their former wet bar into a chic DJ booth.”.

— Phillip Thomas, founder and principal of Phillip Thomas Inc. in New York City

Let Guests Help Themselves

“Vinyl records add a cool factor to a room. For a pre-teen client, for example, we displayed her small collection on her dresser—we didn’t want this display to be too forced.

“Adding a record player in a living room console invites guests to pick a record and keep the party going. Keeping the record player accessible to guests means the music never gets stale. Vinyl has a sound of its own, and letting guests feel free to pick a song is a great way to set the tempo of the evening.

“The record player is a hot spot for entertaining; make sure your guests help themselves to your collection.”

Jared Kuzia Photography— Lori Paranjape, principal Mrs. Paranjape Design + Interiors in Nashville

Reprinted by permission of Mansion Global. Copyright 2021 Dow Jones & Company. Inc. All Rights Reserved Worldwide. Original date of publication: August 4, 2021.

They call themselves TikTok refugees—and the app they are fleeing to is a lot more Chinese than the video-sharing app whose U.S. fate now hangs in the balance.

After Supreme Court justices Friday seemed inclined to let stand a law that would shut down TikTok in the U.S., the Chinese social-media platform Xiaohongshu , translated in English as Little Red Book, has received a flood of American TikTok users. They are looking for a sanctuary or a way to protest the potentially imminent TikTok ban—never mind that they don’t speak Chinese.

Charlotte Silverstein, a 32-year-old publicist in Los Angeles, downloaded Xiaohongshu on Sunday night after seeing videos on TikTok about migrating to the app, which Americans dubbed “RedNote.” She described the move as a “last act of defiance” in her frustration about the potential TikTok ban.

“Everyone has been super welcoming and sweet,” said Silverstein, who has made three posts so far. “I love the sense of community that I’m seeing already.”

By Monday, TikTok refugees had pushed Xiaohongshu to the top of the free-app chart on Apple ’s App Store.

“I’m really nervous to be on this app, but I also find it to be really exciting and thrilling that we’re all doing this,” one new Xiaohongshu user said in a video clip on Sunday. “I’m sad that TikTok might actually go, but if this is where we’re gonna be hanging out, welcome to my page!” Within a day, the video had more than 3,000 comments and 6,000 likes. And the user had amassed 24,000 followers.

Neither Xiaohongshu nor TikTok responded to requests for comment.

The flow of refugees, while serving as a symbolic dissent against TikTok’s possible shutdown, doesn’t mean Xiaohongshu can easily serve as a replacement for Americans. TikTok says it has 170 million users in the U.S., and it has drawn many creators who take advantage of the app’s features to advertise and sell their products.

Most of the content on Xiaohongshu is in Chinese and the app doesn’t have a simple way to auto-translate the posts into English.

At a time of a strained U.S.-China relationship, some new Chinese-American friendships are budding on an app that until now has had few international users.

“I like that two countries are coming together,” said Sarah Grathwohl, a 32-year-old marketing manager in Seattle, who made a Xiaohongshu account on Sunday night. “We’re bonding over this experience.”

Granthwohl doesn’t speak Chinese, so she has been using Google Translate for help. She said she isn’t concerned about data privacy and would rather try a new Chinese app than shift her screentime to Instagram Reels.

Another opportunity for bonding was a photo of English practice questions from a Chinese textbook, with the caption, “American please.” American Xiaohongshu users helped answer the questions in the comments, receiving a “thank u Honey,” from the person who posted the questions.

By Monday evening, there have been more than 72,000 posts with the hashtag #tiktokrefugee on Xiaohongshu, racking up some 34 million views.

In an English-language post titled “Welcome TikTok refugees,” posted by a Shanghai-based Xiaohongshu user, an American user responded in Chinese with a cat photo and the words, “Thank you for your warm welcome. Everyone is so cute. My cat says thanks, too.” The user added, “I hope this is the correct translation.”

Some Chinese users are also using the livestreaming function to invite TikTok migrants to chat. One chat room hosted by a Chinese English tutor had more than 179,900 visits with several Americans exchanging cultural views with Chinese users.

ByteDance-owned TikTok isn’t available in China but has a Chinese sister app, Douyin. American users can’t download Douyin, though; unlike Xiaohongshu, it is only accessible from Chinese app stores.

On Xiaohongshu, Chinese users have been sharing tutorials and tips in English for American users on how to use the app. Meanwhile, on TikTok, video clips have also multiplied over the past two days teaching users the correct pronunciation of Xiaohongshu—shau-hong-SHOO—and its culture.

Xiaohongshu may be new to most Americans, but in China, it is one of the most-used social-media apps. Backed by investors like Chinese tech giants Tencent Holdings and Alibaba Group , Xiaohongshu is perhaps best described as a Chinese mix of Instagram and Reddit and its users increasingly treat it as a search engine for practical information.

Despite its Little Red Book name, Xiaohongshu has little in common with the compilation of Mao Zedong ’s political writings and speeches. In fact, the app aspires to be a guidebook about anything but politics.

Conceived as a shopping guide for affluent urbanites in 2013, Xiaohongshu has morphed into a one-stop shop for lifestyle and shopping recommendations. Every day, its more than 300 million users, who skew toward educated young women, create, share and search for posts about anything from makeup tutorials to career-development lessons, game strategies or camping skills.

Over the years, Xiaohongshu users have developed a punchy writing style, with posts accompanied by images and videos for an Instagram feel.

Chinese social-media platforms are required to watch political content closely. Xiaohongshu’s focus on lifestyle content, eschewing anything that might seem political, makes it less of a regulatory target than a site like Weibo , which in 2021 was fined at least $2.2 million by China’s cyberspace watchdog for disseminating “illegal information.”

“I don’t expect to read news or discussion of serious issues on Xiaohongshu,” said Lin Ying, a 26-year-old game designer in Beijing.

The American frenzy over a Chinese app is the reverse of a migration in recent years by Chinese social-media users seeking refuge from censorship on Western platforms , such as X, formerly known as Twitter, or, more recently, BlueSky.

Just like TikTok users who turn to the app for fun, Xiaohongshu users also seek entertainment through livestreams and short video clips as well as photos and text-posts on the platform.

Xiaohongshu had roughly 1.3 million U.S. mobile users in December, according to market-intelligence firm Sensor Tower, which estimates that U.S. downloads of the app in the week ending Sunday almost tripled compared with the week before.

Sensor Tower data indicates that Xiaohongshu became the top-ranked social-networking and overall free app on Apple’s App Store and the 8th top-ranked social app on the Google Play Store on Monday, “a feat it has never achieved before,” said Abe Yousef, senior insights analyst at Sensor Tower.

Run by Shanghai-based Xingin Information Technology, Xiaohongshu makes money primarily from advertising, according to a Xiaohongshu spokeswoman. The company was valued at $17 billion after its latest round of private-equity investment in the summer, according to research firm PitchBook Data.

Not everyone is singing kumbaya. Some Chinese Xiaohongshu users are worried about the language barrier. And some American TikTok users are concerned about data safety on the Chinese app.

But many are hoping to build bridges between the two countries.

“Y’all might think Americans are hateful because of how our politicians are, but I promise you not all of us are like that,” one American woman said on a Sunday video she posted on Xiaohongshu with Chinese subtitles.

She went on to show how to make cheese quesadillas using a waffle maker.

The video collected more than 11,000 likes and 3,000 comments within 24 hours. “It’s so kind of you to use Chinese subtitles,” read one popular comment posted by a user from Sichuan province.

Another Guangdong-based user commented with a bilingual “friendly reminder”: “On Chinese social-media platforms please do not mention sensitive topics such as politics, religion and drugs!!!”

Creative Ways To Display A Vinyl Record Collection

The beauty of LPs is their appeal is as auditory as it is visual.

Chinese users of Xiaohongshu, or Little Red Book, welcome Americans fleeing a feared TikTok ban