The $500 funeral guest – #122

Two ideas stayed with me this week, and I wanted to share them with you before we get to the usual five. Neither is European, and neither is something you can put on a shelf, so they didn’t quite fit into the collection.

The first sends a stranger to your funeral for $500.

A woman in mourning clothes arrives in a black car. She stands at the edge, says nothing, and leaves before anyone can ask who she is.

The service is called The Dark Secret. It is real, bookable in New York, and non-refundable, which feels fair under the circumstances. You arrange it in advance so the people at your funeral are left wondering who she was and what you never told them. Its FAQ contains the whole business model: “A backstory is an answer. We sell only questions.”

The other is Hellcare Regular, a typeface modeled on doctors’ handwriting.

Parker Jones began it while trying to read documents from her father’s cancer treatment. She and Rajshree Saraf wrote faster and faster until the letters collapsed, then added back just enough order for the typeface to work. An e can still look like an o. That’s the point.

There are doctors in my family, so Hellcare felt familiar. (My kids can almost never decipher the birthday cards from their grandparents on their own.)

I kept thinking about both for the same reason. One sells you a question with no story attached. The other makes a broken system look as confusing as it feels. Put the missing part back, and both get worse.

Both are American, I know. Europe resumes below.

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.: The Datum coffee maker was the most-clicked product in last week’s issue, more than twice the runner-up. Not bad for a page where you still cannot buy anything yet.

P.P.S.: If you find something that belongs here, send it.

Most espresso cups ease you into the day. This handmade one from INCARTATO CERAMICS takes the opposite approach. The 80 ml cup is made in Italy, where the brand splits production between Sesto Fiorentino and Faenza. I like that they sell left-handed and right-handed versions of their cups.

After an espresso cup that misbehaves in cobalt, here is a glass allowed to misbehave in three dimensions. Richard Malone designed it for J. Hill’s Standard, and master glassblower Ondřej Novotný hand-blows each one in the Czech Republic. The amber form sits somewhere between vessel and sculpture; because the glass settles differently each time, no two are quite alike.

The Syrena wants to be a candle holder, vase, incense burner, bookend, and sculptural object, which is either four jobs too many or exactly the point. Designed and made in Poland by Ola Niepsuj, Karol Pasternak, and Piotr Maciaszek for Ludism, the ash-wood figure is hand-painted, so each one differs slightly. Its namesake is the Slavic water spirit and mermaid from Warsaw’s coat of arms. It is made to order.

The PRIY ABEER looks as if a copper bowl, a perforated shade, and a yellow wire frame were stacked in exactly the right order. POSITION Collective builds the 30-centimeter standing lamp from powder-coated metal and brass, with a red cable completing the mix. The PRIY series takes its colors from a journey through India. Compact, slightly strange, and not especially interested in blending in.

The timing made this planner hard to ignore: I’m heading into 2027 without a fixed address, and Portugal is the first stop. mishmash® gives 2027 the kind of order it is unlikely to deserve: twelve monthly spreads, twelve goals sections, and a full-year calendar on A5 paper. Beatriz Barros started the Portuguese stationery brand after growing up around her grandfather’s shop.