My Life In 10 Really Good Objects: Part One - Morning

13 May

I am a voracious consumer, an enthusiast for things.

Words by Charlie Gladstone

I’m someone who loves finding new stuff, who has a passion for wonderful design and a deep interest in provenance. I can’t help myself; I want great design and I want it in my life, constantly. This isn’t particularly fashionable; I’m not meant to buy much these days, am I? But we live in a capitalist world, someone’s got to do the heavy lifting and I'm happy to be that person.

This morning I was scanning a recent design awards list somewhere online (some good nominations, some not so) and I wondered if I could create my own list. But being someone who lives for this stuff I realised that my short list would not, in fact, be short at all. So, I settled on a simple strategy; I’d break my day down into sections and work from there.

Off I went on my morning walk and round and round the nominations went; soon I had at least 30 things that make every morning great. I’m pretty sure you don’t want my life’s minutiae so I’m going to limit this piece (officially Part 1 of my Life in Ten Really Good Objects) to the most important ten things.

ONE

Let’s start with the statins; not glamorous but magnificently useful. These kick off my day.

Some male members of my family keeled over (fatally, I might add) aged around 50. And a chance visit to my GP a decade ago revealed that I had spectacularly high levels of bad cholesterol and that this fate might just be lurking ahead of me.

I tried all of the diet/habit/natural things I could but to no avail.

So, in stages, I was prescribed 2 different pills that I take, religiously, every day and the cholesterol is totally under control. I live to fight another day.

Statins only came to the market in the mid 1970s and while this might not be the sexiest object on my list, it’s the best. Thank you to Japanese biochemist Akira Eno for what you did from 1971; you are a design legend.

Two

The water that washes down these little pill-shaped miracles always comes from a French classic, the Duralex glass, that simple, cheap, tough, elegant, staple of French quotidian design.

In fact, maybe ‘tis is the greatest ever piece of French design…discuss!

Available in endless sizes and now many colours these glasses are perfect for wine, water and even a small coffee. I like the 220ml Picardie version best; not too small, not too big.

I love all manner of glasses but, really, these are the best, the most storied, the most thoroughly thought-through, the most failsafe and certainly the best value; I mean six for around £10…come on!

Three

Talking of glasses, I can’t really begin the day without my specs from Cubitts. This is the finest, best value optician that I have come across in my 40 or so years of wearing specs.

I wear the Judd and have it in - let me see - about eight colours. I know, I know, this is a bit weird, but I did explain at the start of this article that I was an enthusiastic consumer and (let the justification begin…) I have spares in the car, in my backpack, in my suitcase, at home in Scotland and Wales and I really can’t function without them.

Actually, checking how to spell Cubitts I saw a rather nice honey-coloured pair that I don’t have so I might just have a look at those in a moment.

Four

Coffee. This is always Allpress, a fine company that supplies all of our events, cafés and restaurant with beans. We’ve worked with them for around a decade now and although my head is sometimes turned by something new with sexy packaging, I never leave Allpress because they make wonderful coffee and they do it with great people who stay at the company for many years.

What is so good about Allpress from a commercial point of view is that they really engage in training pour teams so that they truly know how to make coffee; this makes a massive difference.

And, as I say, they employ people that stick around and that’s rare and wonderful.

Five

In pursuit of perfect morning espresso, I have fallen in and out of love with many different machines; in fact, we have a room that has lots on its shelves that work quite well but not quite well enough, or, more accurately, that I felt worked well until I found something even better. This room is a graveyard of coffee machines that didn’t quite make the grade and, guys, I recognise it was me and not you.

Anyway, this year’s love is a Sage machine that grinds beans and although a little fiddly and perhaps a mite overcomplicated, it starts my day with a good crema, which is the most important thing if you drink espresso.

Six

Mugs. In our family the favourite mug is definitely a big thing. The favourite changes from time to time, but it matters, often quite intensely. One mug for this, one for that. We have an enormous collection and they rarely get chucked out.

I think that the universal favourite at the moment is the beautiful, hand cast, individually glazed Slurp mug by Studio Arhoj in Copenhagen. This mug isn’t cheap, but it is beautiful and every one is unique.

They are also excellent for herbal tea, but that’s for another day, perhaps.

Seven

Walking is my big thing at the moment and I like to get a good yomp in before I really start working with any intensity.

Both of my dogs died recently, unexpectedly young; but from time to time I will take my daughters’ whippets who are delightful, youngish sisters and quite impulsive (in that they do pretty much what they want when they want and if they spot a squirrel you might not see them for a while).

Pawfit’s ingenious GPS tracking devices that attach to their harnesses are absolute game-changers because even if the hounds do run off, I can track where they are immediately and with uncanny accuracy.

I can’t express what a good thing this is; I find losing a dog, however briefly, quite stressful and this simple device removes so much of that worry.

Those long extending leads are also quite wonderful, but you probably know that.

Eight

My walk will invariably be taken in my Blundstone boots and I’ll keep them on for the rest of the day, having cast off my furry Birkenstocks (oh my goodness, these are great, I’ll include them another day).

These iconic, deceptively simple boots are peerless; I use the waterproof ones with thermal sheepskin inners (most of the year) and though I throw a lot of muddy, wet work at them a pair will last for 4 or 5 years.

Honestly, if you’re looking for simple, highly functional, good-looking boots then look no further.

Nine

Next up in the list of wonderful objects is my new Pinch desk.

I absolutely love all of Pinch’s elegant, minimalist and beautifully made objects and have a large collection. This stuff absolutely oozes quality and simple, understated class.

I have the Yves desk in oak and it is the very definition of pure joy. Its timeless, shakery looks make every day better. They always have ex-display pieces at 30-50% off too and they never seem to be in any way negatively affected by having been used in their shop.

Ten

The search for a perfect pen is still a thing but at the moment I use the excellent Artline200 Fine 4.0 in a range of colours.

I’m very much someone who lives my working life on my laptop, phone and iPad but I also scrawl notes and reminders on old envelopes and receipts while at my desk, as well as writing cards and letters whenever the occasion suggests that I should. Today I wrote two actual letters.

This pen is precise, robust and simple.

Yesterday I signed hundreds of compliments slips to be sent with my Do Book (thank you friends) and it did a fine job, refusing to give up the ghost despite quite severe pressure from me.