Truly is there anything nicer than getting a present through the post? I mean, frankly, I get quite excited when it’s a letter that’s not in a brown envelope with a window so an actual parcel has me skipping in glee. And that’s the principle behind a new company called Designer Box.
You sign up – for three months, six, a year, and every month you get a present. A rather lovely wooden box (see the top left picture) comes and inside there is a limited edition piece made by a designer. A candlestick, a lamp, a clock, a decanter or just a beautiful object.
Some designers you will know Arik Levy, Sebastian Bergne, Piero Lissoni and Ron Gilad. Some you will discover through their creations.
So when the very nice people behind the concept emailed me to say would I like a box to see what they were going on about, I bit their hand off said I had nothing better to do that day and if they could be bothered to send it over I might get round to having a look.
Of course when it arrived, there was an unseemly bundle between me and the two children over who was going to keep the box. Youngest won; it now houses a collection of Pokemon tat precious objects worthy of such a fine box. Elder was quite excited to score the gigantic elastic band you can see on top of the box. So actually everyone won.
My surprise was this so-called Drago light by fashion designer Maurizio Galante. It’s supposed to put you in mind of the egg of a mythical creature. Which it didn’t at all when I first saw it and now it’s all I can see so I’m sharing that with you. You may or may not appreciate that.
Now, I won’t lie. This particular box was tricky to build. There were a couple of false starts. There was swearing. There was (afterwards) a short lie down with a drink. And then when I had finally done it, those very nice people behind the concept put an instruction video online. No, no it was fine, I was mainly really happy that they had done that. Anyway, video link here.
I also bought the gold fitting and black cable from Rose and Grey because I figured a black cord cable and gold fitting would be better than the plastic one it comes with. I also have a black plug if I decide to use it as a table lamp and not as a pendant.
The other point to make is that if you sign up and don’t like/want/need that month’s surprise you’ve got a perfect gift for someone else/that person who’s birthday you completely forgot was tomorrow. Also, all the previous boxes are up on the site and you can buy past months if there is something you really like.
Or you could subscribe as a present for someone else. Someone you know who loves getting surprises in the post. Someone who might do a little dance of joy in the hall every month…
