16 September 2020

Buy nice stuff

Want to buy nice consumer products from providers I like? Here are unsolicited endorsements of some of my favorite Stuff, and places to get Stuff.

Other indices of nice things

Catalogues of various (often odd) things

Stationery & pens

Catalogues

Pens

  • The Pen Type-B — the brass version is my favorite pen ever, using refills with the ink for …
  • Pilot Hi-Tec C — a very good gel pen available in various colors & formats
  • Pilot G-2 — the Hi-Tec C’s cousin, IMHO the best all-around cheap pen
  • Pilot Vanishing Point — the only good retractable fountain pen
  • Zebra Mildliners — highlighter-style felt-tip pens in subdued colors, useful for highlighting, structuring written notes, and sketching
  • Pilot FriXion pens — the only good erasable pens I have used, not just spiffy on the merits but also useful combined with …

Other goodies

  • Rocketbook — an array of notebooks and other stationery made with reusable ”paper“ which easily wipes clean with a damp cloth if you use FriXion pens, supported by an app for easily scanning snapshots of what you write; though the “paper“ is plastic-y to the touch it writes very nicely so I love using the index cards for games and the Orbit pad for work meeting notes which I will transcribe into electronic form
  • Chromalabel — an array of color-coding stickers … including kraft paper
  • Studio Neat — a handful of very spiffy office tools; the unique things I recommend are their giant panobook “desk notebook” and matching-size panopad sticky notes
  • The Cortex podcast store — offers a few nifty, unique bits of stationery including my all-time favorite notebook

Computer-adjacent office gear

Brands

  • Anker & Belkin — the two big manufacturers I trust most for stuff like chargers, cables, and other USB accessories (and related kit)
  • Elevation Lab — good cables and device stands; it is worth watching the video for their QuickDraw desk cable clip
  • Twelve South — unique accessories for computers, phones, and other electronics
  • Grovemade — preposterously swanky desk accessories for your computer desk
  • Gustav — when I was working a job which had me running from conference room to conference room with my laptop and other kit, I daydreamed about a specialized Laptop Bucket; too late for me, these folks make one, and a few bits of similar gear
  • Peak Design Mobile — a system of elegant, protective phone cases which lock to various stands and implements; if you use one of the newer MagSafe iPhones, these are compatible, which means that you can combine best-of-breed solutions to pair it with the slightly better magnetic card wallet / mini stand from …
  • Moft — nifty portable stands for computers, tablets, and phones; I carry one of their Snap Flow notepads stuck to my iPhone with MagSafe
  • DTTO — cases for Apple devices, including the iPad Mini case I settled on after a long hunt: inexpensive, protective, grippy without feeling gross, with a stand good for both portrait and landscape use
  • The Magic Sleeve — a cunning magnetic felt gear pocket/desk pad; watch the video to get seduced
  • Conway Electric — nifty, very spendy extension cords and related gear with an Industrial aesthetic.
  • Fluidstance — balance boards for people who work at standing desks plus a line of steel desk whiteboards which I have all over my desk
  • SuperCalla — USB cables with a set of magnets along the length which make them easy to wrap or fold neatly
  • Rolling Square — charging gear and similar; I keep one of their tiny multipurpose USB cables in my go bag, and they have a nifty modular magnetic arm for attaching phones, lights, and chargers to one’s laptop

Input & output

  • Elgato Prompter — if you spend a lot of time on videoconferences, using this widget with your webcam will reduce your stress by enabling you to make “eye contact”
  • Elgato Stream Deck — a highly-customizable “keyboard” with tiny LED displays on each key which knows what application you are currently using to can give you shortcut keys and more; it did so much for my productivity that I eventually upgraded to the XL version
  • TourBox — another programmable input device which knows which app you are using and can give you appropriate shortcut keys; their marketing materials do not explain that the weird button & dial design is meant to make it easy to identify the controls by touch with your left hand while your right hand is working a mouse or trackpad
  • Keyboario & Ergodox — cool weird ergonomic mechanical computer keyboards; I have a few words which may help you decide if you want one of these
  • Folding ergonomic bluetooth “travel” keyboard — this product is available branded a few different ways — I have seen it sold as GoTek Voyage, Targus, iClever, Perixx, Moko, Gomcv, and others — but it is always clearly the same product: compact, very handy, and surprisingly well-made

Cable management

  • Wrap-It cable labels — little colored bits of velcro stuff you can write on to identify what cable connects to what; I also like the velcro cable wraps in matching colors
  • Cable Turtles — the tidiest and easiest way to make a long cable shorter
  • BlueLounge — a bunch of well crafted solutions to your cable clutter; I dig their CableBox, though one can find equivalents which are less expensive
  • braided mesh wire looms — the most convenient way to keep a bunch of cables tidy when stringing them all to the same place

Other goodies

  • Ergodriven — the weird ridged floor mat I use at my standing desk every day
  • Bellemond — makers of a superior alternative to the Paperlike tablet screen protector; it reduces glare and makes drawing & handwriting with the Pencil a lot better, though if one only writes on the tablet intermittantly, you may prefer …
  • Astropad make a magnetic-removable equivalent tablet screen surface for writing which comes with matching pen tips, Rock Paper Pencil

Luggage & travel

  • Evergoods — my single favorite maker of bags and packs; their stuff has a minimalist look and clever, idiosyncratic details; their medium-size travel backpack is the best airplane under-seat bag I have ever used, and their CIVIC Access Pouch 2L, is the best dopp-kit-size organizer I have ever encountered
  • Bellroy — I carry one of their wallets; they now make an array of bags & accessories; I love their 9L Venture Sling, although …
  • Alpaka — a more eccentric maker of nifty little bags; my obsessively-curated mini toolkit lives in one of their pouches and I carry their structured Vertex Pouch as my EDC sling bag
  • Tom Bihn — extremely cunningly crafted simple soft travel gear; their Aeronaut 30 bag has taken me around the world (and the newer laptop-friendly Techonaut incorporates the improvements I daydreamed about when I did that), and their Synik 22 & 30 laptop / travel backpacks have super organization
  • WaterField Designs — their stuff perfectly straddles being classy enough to look professional without looking too fussy in more casual circumstances (especially in their use of waxed canvas); their videos explaining how their bags are meant to be used are worth a watch if only as explorations of thoughtful design; their Air Porter Backpack is a hyper-optmized under-seat carry-on to pair with a rolling case, and their newer Air Travel Backpack is the most professional-feeling one-bag solution I have seen
  • Peak Design — camera gear and bags (and the phone cases mentioned above); I use their Everyday Backpack as the name describes; their travel backpack may be the most clever design of the type — note that Huckberry offers handsome variant versions
  • Aer — intriguingly designed travel & EDC bags a peer to the makers above, though cannot vouch for having seen them in the flesh; I dig their Capsule Pack
  • Babboon To The Moon — bags for people who share my sensibilities about how bags should be structured but want something more colorful
  • Freitag — an array of clever bags, each unique because they are made by upcycling the colorful tough canvas they use to cover trucks in Europe; the groovy stop-motion animations showing the bags in use are a delight even if you don’t want to buy one
  • Mission Workshop — my favorite fancy bicylists’ bags; they also make some interesting technical clothes
  • Saddleback Leather — gorgeous, heavy, sturdy leather luggage; I carried one of their backpacks for years and got compliments on it every day
  • Away — the most inexpensive sturdy rolling pullman cases (or the sturdiest inexpensive ones) I have found; their Aluminum Carry-On is spendy but satisfied my lifelong lust for an unattainably expensive Zero Haliburton
  • Sottos — makers of cases with huge wheels that make it easier to roll over surfaces like grass or cobblestones, and to lever-thump up and down stairs
  • Aviator — makers of a lot of travel kit; I love their travel hoodie
  • Notabag — a simple lightweight bag which folds up small and has a simple, beautiful design which makes it graceful to carry things in one hand, over one shoulder, or as a backpack
  • Nanobag — by far the best packable tiny bags I have ever found; these easily pack down to almost nothing but the material is neither flimsy nor weird; the bag shapes are thoughtfully designed — I recommend the sling, pack, amd XL formats
  • Eagle Creek — my favorite maker of packing cubes; you may prefer to use cubes from the same maker as your bag, but you definitely need packing cubes if you travel
  • Matador — a bunch of interesting travel tools; I have one of their nifty pocket blankets; also check out their unique little soap bags
  • The Ogio locker bag — cleverly designed to organize gym gear and fit into locker just so — for years I had one which I did not even take back and forth, it just lived in my locker

Toys

  • Norman & Jules — toys for actual children with a Montessori sensibility which I find seductive
  • Art Of Play — unreasonably beautiful puzzles, games, and toys for grownups
  • Unemployed Philosophers’ Guild — a range of nifty/cute/clever tchotchkes for intellectuals, if you need something like a Nicola Tesla action figure
  • aroundsquare — simple, beautiful hand fidget stuff
  • Areaware — beautiful toys suited for adults and kids, like wooden Blockitecture blocks, as well as playful home & office stuff

Nerd-ish art

Clothing

  • Outlier — spendy-but-worth-it technical clothing in a mix of plain and eccentric designs
  • Bluffworks — technical fabric clothes for a traveller who wants to look like a professional rather than a cyberpunk shadowrunner
  • American Giant — exceptionally well-made cotton basic clothes for men, including “the greatest hoodie ever made”
  • Mack Weldon — more cotton basics; my enthusiasm for their One Mile Slipper proves that I am a middle-aged guy
  • Quince — a big catalogue which also includes housewares; after a lot of experimentation, they have become my favorite maker of merino wool basics
  • Woobie Coats — simple, very warm hooded coats cunningly designed to take advantage of existing mil-spec blanket material; inexpensive enough that you can buy them in bulk to give to your whole camping crew, or to houseless strangers
  • Gustin — clothes “like they do not make any more”, in denim and other interesting fabrics; they keep expenses relatively low by pre-selling short runs, so their mailing list offers fresh temptations on the regular
  • Vestige — T-shirts with abstract graphics that are just really nice
  • Winkworth Ladies’ Goods — a Brooklyn designer of my acquaintance whose cozy / classy / sexy work I admire (and I gotta say that the models on their Instagram are all dreamy)
  • Katherinesummer — nifty knitwear

Grooming

  • Hairstory — New Wash is a no-shampoo shampoo which will change the chemistry of your scalp; they also have other cool haircare stuff, including a really nice scalp brush
  • Acne.org — a line of good, simple skincare products which are great even if you don’t have acne; I cannot describe what AHA+ does but it is great for your skin
  • The Ordinary: Peeling Solution — if, like me, you sometimes feel tempted to take turpentine to your oily skin, this is the stuff you want
  • The Tangle Teezer — does one thing very well; my hair will start to tangle in five minutes if I just stand still and will quickly turn to ’locs if I let it, but this magic device sets it right in just a few swipes
  • Gilette Mach3 razors — in my experience, categorically better than any other disposable solution, but …
  • Henson Shaving — after giving up on safety razors as hard on my skin while not shaving close enough, these beautiful precision-machined safety razors brought me back; while the razor costs a lot more, the blades cost a lot less

Housewares

  • TubShroom — bath and sink filters which catch gunk without clogging
  • Kaufmann Mercantile — a range of well-made housewares and “accessories” and whatnot
  • Ikea 365+ food containers — one can mix-and-match nesting containers made of cheap plastic, strong glass, or stainless steel with lids made of bamboo, latching plastic, or silicone; containers have different heights but only a few different footprints, so there is no heartache matching lids to containers
  • Skurareally nice kitchen sponges and related cleaning stuff
  • Ovalware’s cold brew coffee maker is just a pleasing, solid bit of kit
  • Purist Collective — nifty insulated cups & bottles for home or on the go
  • Mighty Mug — the insulated travel cup I use at my work desk; it has clever suction device which keeps it from spilling when set on a smooth surface
  • Gigogne Tumbler — stackable glass tumblers from French makers of classic nearly-indestructible glassware
  • Onsen — waffle-style towels which sucked me in to a Kickstarter; they are really nice
  • The Swag — a cotton bag which one dampens and uses to keep vegetables fresh in the fridge; it works

Consumables

  • Slate Milk — shelf-stable lactose-free not-too-sweet quality chocolate milk in a can; these make such a great afternoon treat that I have a subscription
  • Nickel Dime Cocktail Syrups & Portland Syrups — a treat I have taken to now that I have slowed down enough that I am enjoying soda concoctions more often than actual cocktails
  • U-Haul paper packing tape — so much better than all other box packing tape that it is worth going out of your way; it sticks nicely to cardboard but does not tend to get stuck to other stuff, tears easily by hand, and you can write on it
  • Hydro Seal Band-Aids & Tegaderm Dressings — are two different styles of hydrocolloid bandages which are flexible, comfortable, waterproof, and stay on for several days; if you put one on properly, you can trim the edges as they progressively pull away, at the point the whole thing finally comes off, minor wounds have usually completely healed
  • Spenco’s moist burn pads — an essential adjunct to those bandages; they belong in every first aid kid because for a burn there is no substitute

Everything else

  • Graf Lantz — a bunch of cool things made of wool felt
  • Gata — stuff for disaster paranoia, including my second-favorite lightweight silicone respirator mask after …
  • Breathe99 — their silicone masks integrate with cloth cover to keep the covid-cautious like me from looking too Medical
  • Garrett Wade — such beautiful tools that their gardening implements tempt me to take up gardening
  • The Gerber Prybrid — the best “pocketknife” I have ever owned; it stays sharp through the magic of replacable boxcutter blades, and also serves well as a pry bar and bottle opener
  • Oxford Pennant — camp flags that are just cool
  • Bibliotheca — an exceptionally handsome edition of the Bible, designed for one to enjoy reading; it uses an idiosyncratic Protestant translation which attempts to marry formal literalism with contemporary language
  • Manta — by far the best sleep blindfolds; their Bluetooth sound mask is the most comfortable way to have personal sleep sound
  • Upcart — a sturdy little folding dolly with a wacky triangular wheel design which enables one to use it to carry things up and down stairs



Of course the real reason I made this list is so I have a place to tuck cool stuff I find so I can go shopping for toys later. Or if you want to get me a present ….

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