80 boxes and nowhere to sit – #120

Our apartment looks like a mess right now.

Our living and dining room share one space, so the table is still there. Beyond it, one lounge chair faces a blank wall. The couch is gone. My son had his friends over this weekend. We started packing a few days ago, so they sat on the footrest to play Minecraft. That worked until the TV came off the wall.

We started in the garage and already have around 80 boxes, I think. We are not packing up a whole house. This is one apartment in Merano, which tells you something uncomfortable about how much we had in it.

Packing makes you touch every object again and decide whether it deserves another journey. Quite a few plants need new homes, including the citrus trees and the magnolia.

The framed print behind me is by Eike König. I love Eike's work and we have several of his pieces. This one is going into the container, then onto another wall somewhere. We do not know which wall yet.

(If you’re wondering why you’re reading about someone’s struggles packing up an apartment in Italy: last week, I wrote that we’ll be traveling for the coming school year. If you missed it, the post is here)

Next to it is a barometer from my grandparents' house in Bavaria. It has spent years telling us when the weather was about to turn here in the mountains. It comes with us too.

We have also gotten rid of a lot. The apartment gets lighter with each thing that leaves and, honestly, so do we.

But now, five more objects below (which is the last thing this apartment needs right now).

If you’re new around here: Every week, I share 5 of the nicest products from Europe I’ve discovered in the past 7 days.

I scout, you explore.

With love 🌞
Jakob

P.S.: Missed the last edition? Last week's most-clicked was the TOPOS olive oil dish by Santimetre. The Zona Urbana card sleeve finished one click behind it, the closest we've had in months.

P.P.S.: The first two of this week's five came from Daniel, who reads this and writes Miscellanea, which is worth your inbox. If you find something that belongs here, send it.

The Romanian social enterprise Alterra Atelier turns discarded electronics into jewelry. Their Circuit Ring holds a cut and polished piece of real circuit board inside a stainless steel band, sealed under clear resin.

The Gio sunglasses by Lunet come in Teal Havana. Lunet runs everything from design to distribution, and its Bucharest and Cluj shops have Majorelle-blue floors, silver walls, floating lights and raffia instead of the usual optician furniture. This is the third Romanian find in two weeks, after one in the previous 118 issues.

Aleksandar Ugrešić designed the Sila Armchair for Hookl und Stool as two scooped hemispheres, one for the seat and one for the back. Under the leather and bouclé is a fiberglass shell layered with foam, finished with solid wood arms and rear legs. In 120 issues, this is the first Serbian product to appear here.

The Lume Ranger by Lume Traveler is a two-person caravan with a pop-up roof and a pull-out outdoor kitchen. Inside are wool felt walls, a teak floor, leather details and an Auping queen-size bed, closer to a small room than a plastic box on wheels. I am not buying one. I looked anyway.

Microduck by Pollen Robotics is a 25 cm biped with 15 motors, a front-facing camera and an articulated beak that actually grasps things, which gives the week's second circuit board legs. The Bordeaux team gives every duck its own generated voice and publishes all seven pre-trained behaviors so they can be retrained. It is available only for pre-order, with first deliveries targeted before Christmas 2026 in North America and Europe (the battery is the same removable type that has powered camcorders since the nineties).