The socket needed approval – #109

A few days ago, I stopped to admire a wall socket.

It was inside one of the two towers at a new holiday retreat in South Tyrol that I’m helping with branding and marketing. The sockets are coral red, individually spray-painted by German socket manufacturer Jung and unusually good-looking for something mostly used to charge a phone beside a bed.

Apparently, you cannot just call your electrician and order 27 of them. Jung first checks where they will be installed and whether the architecture is right for them. In this case, someone came from their Austrian office to inspect the almost-finished building.

This is absurd, very German and exactly the level of attention I want someone to give a wall socket.

Vitruvius had a rule for this 2,000 years ago. He said a good building needed firmitas, utilitas and venustas: strength, usefulness and beauty. Leaving out the last part meant you had not quite finished the job.

A lot of everyday objects now seem to get away with two out of three.

Here are five things from makers who paid attention.

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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? The Roxy Espresso Machine from Munich was the most-clicked product.

People wait outside Louise Carmen’s two Paris boutiques to buy a notebook. The Honoré explains some of it: a full-grain leather cover made in France, two replaceable notebooks inside and a large leather pocket, all configured to suit how you actually write. The paper will run out. The cover is meant to stay with you for decades, becoming less pristine and more yours along the way.

QuadroDesign usually makes taps and bathroom fittings from stainless steel. For the OG-NM301, it applied the same material logic to a stool. Designed by Andrea Ferrari with Milanese design company NM3, it is made entirely from stainless steel and can live outdoors or inside a shower.

The glaze on SONMO’s espresso cups begins with pine and olive wood ash from its own estate in Mallorca’s Serra de Tramuntana. Its color and texture shift with the trees, the firing and that year’s material, so no two cups come out quite alike.

If I were mayor of a city, I would probably buy the street furniture from Vestre. The Norwegian company treats a public bench like actual furniture: the EDO was designed by Torbjørn Anderssen and Espen Voll, made at Vestre’s factory in Magnor, and built so its parts can be repaired or replaced. Public space would improve considerably if fewer cities bought everything from the depressing half of the municipal catalog.

MODU’s Tiny Ride is modular, made in Europe from recyclable foam and food-grade plastic, and rated to carry 50 kilograms, which means a tired parent can sit on it too. Its wheels turn in every direction, and the pieces remain compatible with the rest of the MODU system after the child outgrows the riding phase. (Looks interesting, just the wheels give me a bit office chair vibes).