Christine's Design Blog

Look at this beautiful tin of coffee sent to me by good old Ben — who, by the way, just got hired at Microsoft at their Seattle headquarters! Congrats, Ben!

The coffee came to me a couple weeks ago in a package, along with the postcard. Ben seems to have made it his mission to send me delicious coffee from his travels (first was from Hawaii — in fact, that was what prompted me to purchase a coffee maker in the first place, and it’s saved me tons of money), and this one came from Cafe Du Monde in New Orleans. According to Nina, this coffee is quite famous and is generally the one used to make those condensed milk coffees at Vietnamese restaurants.

The coffee is delicious, and the tin is so wonderful that I think it will make up for the sorrow that will inevitably strike once I’ve finished the coffee. I wish I knew more about the design and how far back it goes. What is it about vintage packaging that’s so scrumptious?

I love these fabric thumbtacks that I bought (on impulse) from Blick a few weeks ago. Made by Girl of All Work, they come in four different patterns, all lovely!

Now that being green has been cool for some time, reusable water bottles are getting cooler as well.

Earthlust makes water bottles from high-quality stainless steel. The bottles are BPA-free (which is what all the fuss is about Sigg bottles) and extremely light, not to mention beautiful, which makes carrying them around so great. The designs are mostly limited edition and constantly changing, so if you see one that you like, you’d better order it soon!

I stumbled upon this brand in April at the McNally Jackson Books, quite a random place for such a product. I was in the middle of searching around for a good water bottle that wasn’t too expensive. Pictured above is my 20 ounce Poppy bottle (with carabineer removed because it was getting in my way, but its inclusion is still appreciated), which I bought for $18, a very reasonable price. So far I’ve been very happy with it and am considering getting a smaller size once new designs are released sometime in the fall.

Listening to music has never been more environmentally friendly or artistic!

These are my new OrigAudio speakers, which were quite a steal with my Lady Danville discount code, making the speakers $10. Usually priced at $16, they are still an amazing deal when you compare then with this very similar product sold at Muji for $38. On top of being very affordable, you can read about how your purchase can benefit non-profit organizations on this page of the OrigAudio website. OrigAudio also partners up with independent bands to help them raise funds, which is what prompted me to make the purchase in the first place in support of Lady Danville.

An even cooler about these speakers are that they’re made with recycled material and are collapsible — hence the origami + audio name. They come folded in their package like so:

Though you can’t exactly expect to rock out on 1-watt speakers, these are ideal for trips and small spaces. While I chose the plain Canvas speakers so that I can eventually decorate my own, they also come with designs like Daydream and Surf Break:

This is the tale of my Ugly Doll, Babo, typically known simply as Ugly, and how he had to win the love of those who shunned his strange appearance. (He is pictured above, looking somewhat lint-y.)

It was a sunny Saturday three years ago, and my UCLA friends and I went to Sawtelle Boulevard in Los Angeles to grab a tofu bowl for lunch. Afterwards, we stopped by the (original?) Giant Robot store a couple stores down. Long harboring a desire to own an Ugly Doll, I decided to make a selection from the big pile-up in the store’s window. Babo caught my eye, and I loved that his name meant ‘stupid’ in Korean. But they didn’t have any regular blue-colored Babos, so I decided to get this black one, which the tag describes as being on a ‘Ninja type mystery adventure’ to steal cookies. I love cookies.

Henceforth, Babo lived on the front passenger seat of my Toyota Matrix, and things were rough in the beginning. People would climb into the car and exclaim, ‘What the heck is this?! It’s so ugly!’ And I would insist, ‘Isn’t he cute?’ and they would cold-heartedly respond, ‘No.’

Such sorrow! What’s not to love about a little guy with two little hairs (ears? who knows) on his head, two adorable little teeth emerging from his confused frown, and two scrawny arms permanently held up in pure guilt? What’s beauty anyway?

But over time my friends came around. I could tell that they were reluctantly finding him cute, and finally they would admit to being under his spell. My roommate even began to have too much fun with Babo by making growling noises, causing me to confiscate the doll while she was in the car. Ah, good times. For two years Babo would ride along with me wherever I went. Despite his slow wits and cookie obsession, he’s not a bad navigator. Then I moved to New York and had to leave him behind … but after a semester of no Babo, I asked my mom to mail him to me, so we’ve been reunited! Though I don’t have a car here and can’t really bring him around when I hop on the subway, he now lives on my bed and greets me whenever I return home to the tiny apartment.

Naturally, I was delighted to read this L.A. Times article about the creation of Ugly Dolls. It all began with David Horvath and Sun-Min Kim, two graduates of the Parsons School of Design, who were in love and writing letters long distance. It’s such a great story, so make sure you give it a read! If you’re feeling a bit blue and in need of a trusty companion, perhaps you should look into an Ugly Doll yourself.