The apartment edit: five things worth knowing about #93

A bit later than usual this week and I’m writing this with flecks of paint still on my arms.

This weekend we're renovating Late Checkout, our holiday rental here in Merano.

Empress Sisi used to come here every autumn to eat what locals will tell you was 5 kilograms of grapes a day as a medical cure. (She stayed at a castle, obviously. We're just a two-bedroom with a sun terrace.)

If you're ever looking for somewhere to stay in Merano, just say hello.

So this week’s five items are from the apartment. Some already there, some on the way.

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 analog alarm clock by Geneva Lab was the most-clicked product.

Museum Sidetable 🇸🇪 Rusty brown. Fits anywhere. Works as a nightstand.

String has been in continuous production since 1949. The Museum line keeps the structure and adds darker materials, heavier proportions — furniture rather than very organised wire. The sidetable in dark brown fits anywhere and actually holds things. Perfect as a nightstand.

Bergluft 🇦🇹 I don't usually recommend scents. This is the exception.

I don't usually feature scents here — taste in fragrance is too personal to transport through a screen. But Looops is a small manufactory from Salzburg working with natural essential oils only, and the Bergluft collection is Swiss stone pine, juniper, lemon. I like it and therefore is a candle in the apartment. (It's not the one that smells like a pine tree hanging from a rear-view mirror.)

9091 Kettle 🇮🇹 The one that sings

Richard Sapper designed this for Alessi in 1984. When the water boils, steam passes through two small brass pipes in the spout and plays a two-note melody — mi and si. He wanted something that wouldn't interrupt a quiet moment with a shriek. Forty years in continuous production. The kind of object you buy once, eventually hand to someone, and they hand on after that.

Ptolomeo 🇮🇹 For rooms without enough wall

Designed by Bruno Rainaldi for Opinion Ciatti in 2003: a steel column with thin steel shelves holding books upright along its length. Fill it up and the shelves disappear — at two metres tall it just looks like a tower of books defying gravity. Anyone who sees it for the first time spends a moment figuring out what's actually holding them up.

Meraner Tischkegel 🇮🇹 South Tyrol's oldest parlour game

A spinning top and nine pins. You spin the top across the table and it knocks them down on its way. Been played in Weinstuben and living rooms here for centuries. Completely analog, immediately addictive.

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