The sheep costs €400. The phone has a privacy switch. – #96

I basically only have two response speeds.

Three minutes. Or five weeks.

No middle lane. Either I reply immediately, or messages land in the digital equivalent of a chair with clothes on it.

This goes for emails, WhatsApps, texts, DMs, and especially voice messages. Voice messages are somehow both intimate and inconvenient, which is an impressive combination.

The real problem: too many ways to be reached, and after a while everything competes with everything else. One message becomes five. One channel becomes six. And suddenly there's a quiet pile of unanswered things staring at you.

The worst part is actually the nicest messages.

You get something thoughtful from someone you genuinely care about and think: I should do this one properly. Which is a beautiful intention. In practice, it means six days go by, then twelve, and the message that deserved the warmest reply has received absolutely nothing.

So if you're somewhere in that pile: I don't feel terrible about it, because I suspect you know exactly what I mean. But it's not personal. In most cases it’s actually the opposite.

Anyway — here are 5 finds from Europe before this newsletter joins the chair.

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 Hermansen CPH electric bike from Copenhagen was the most-clicked product.

This one goes by “Horsie” in our family, which is funny because it is very clearly a sheep. A very solid, slightly dangerous sheep. Meier.Germany makes it, and the design comes from Hanns-Peter Krafft. It’s handcrafted, made with beech wood, fur, leather and steering rollers — and it feels like it. Three kids in, ours still rolls like day one. Not cheap, but firmly in the “buy once, keep forever” category. And if you ever need an A+ gift for a 3–5 year-old, I’d put this very high on the list. (Just be aware: that massive wooden snout is not especially forgiving on shins.) 

The Céju Nabi Butter Dish is hand-shaped in beige chamotte stoneware, and the oversized handle is exactly what makes it stick in your head. It turns butter into a small occasion.

I already featured their After Eight Basket in #30. This one instantly reminded me of the plastic woven bags you see everywhere in Taiwan — except this version comes with a better backstory. Rayas Collective was founded in Berlin in 2022 by sisters-in-law Luisa and Consuelo after a trip to Consuelo’s home country, El Salvador. The baskets are handwoven in Nahuizalco by Vanesa, her mother, and her brother. Beach, groceries, travel, random weekend hauling — it can do all of it without feeling precious.

Quilting currently has its moment in interior design. This is technically a table lamp, but it feels closer to a soft glowing sculpture that just happens to light the room. Danish artist Lærke Ryom made it with wool, canvas, LED light, powder-coated steel and cord.

No, it doesn’t have Apple-level charm. But it definitely belongs here. Europe doesn’t make many phones with a point of view anymore. This one clearly has one. Jolla, the Finnish company behind it, is making a phone with Sailfish OS, Android app support, a replaceable battery, a replaceable back cover, and — most importantly — an actual physical privacy switch. That last bit matters because it turns “privacy by design” from marketing wallpaper into something concrete. It’s a niche product, a little nerdy, and proudly not built for mass-market cool.

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