Built from mushrooms 🌞 clicks like Lego 🌞 tastes like Zurich — #53

Welcome to this week’s edition of what’s hot in brands and products.

I’ve been rethinking how to make this newsletter more useful.

Right now, if you’re trying to find that one espresso machine from October, it’s scroll-and-hope in the archive of past editions.

But not much longer!

I’ve quietly tracked all ~300 past picks in a Notion table. Thinking of putting it live soon — filters, tags, the whole shebang.

Minimalist lamps? Boom.

Gifts for your weird cousin? Click-click.

Also: Notion is sponsoring this issue. So if you want to support the newsletter and organize your chaos, check the link below.

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

I scout, you explore. Let’s get to it!

With love 🌞
Jakob

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Designed by Anna Roos in the Netherlands. Meant for cookies.
Unfortunately, also great at reminding you they exist. (This is not your grandma’s "hide it in the pantry" kind of tin.) Felix stares at you with big, judgment-free eyes while you polish off a sleeve of speculoos.

Store your snacks in style

They look like colorful sticks. Then they click. And suddenly you’re building a flamingo spaceship while forgetting your phone exists. Made in Germany from recycled wood composite, Minu Maju is part toy, part mindfulness tool, and weirdly elegant enough to leave out on your coffee table. Created by three Berlin friends who wanted something fun, screen-free, and nice-looking. Mission accomplished.

Click into it!

Corners rarely get love from furniture designers. Which is odd, considering they’re everywhere. A friend once told me Feng Shui sees empty corners as bad energy — and now I can’t unsee it.
That’s why I have to share this surreal wall-mounted corner table by Studio TOOJ and MycoWorks. It’s wrapped in Reishi™, a biomaterial grown from mycelium (think: mushrooms). It looks like soft fabric, but it’s solid. Functional. And quietly impressive.

Rethink your corners

Vermouth, but make it Helvetica.
I have a thing for well-designed drink bottles. Especially the kind that make you feel cooler just for owning them. Wermut nails that vibe — clean label, local herbs, no fluff.
It’s Swiss vermouth at its most restrained and elegant. Pairs well with good cheese, quiet confidence, and pretending your kitchen is a Zurich rooftop.

Sip like you live in Switzerland

I have a soft spot for synths — even if I barely know what I’m doing.

The Polyend Tracker looks like a Game Boy for sound nerds, but underneath is a seriously powerful music workstation.
It’s Polish-made, beautifully built, and way more intuitive than it first seems. (Recommended by Stefan, who actually knows what he’s doing — and makes sounds that don’t resemble a dial-up modem.)

Push buttons, make magic!

Know a tiny European brand doing cool things? A ceramic teapot from Malta? A wall clock from Sweden shaped like a goose? I’m always chasing down the beautiful, the strange, and the overlooked.