YOU NAME IT: The growth of personalisation
Illustration by Marina Kharkover
by Jenny Dalton
IN THE EARLY 80s when it became fashionable to own accessories with your name attached (remember the original script name necklaces, way before SATC’s Carrie got her mitts on one?), I remember being constantly thwarted when I hit the shops looking for named items. A million Jennifers, but never a Jenny.
So, what must today’s kids feel like rifling through those souvenir racks, name-cards and the like, all of which are rendered pretty pointless in the face of a million and one children with exotic, one-off, individual, even made-up, names.
Posted 2 March 2010 in Products
HEART OF GLASSES: Zoobug
IF YOU’VE TRIED unsuccessfully to get your wee ones to wear sunglasses, then you probably haven’t heard of Zoobug.
Zoobug’s founder, 33-year-old Dr Julie Diem Le, the Vietnam-born ophthalmologist who moved to the UK aged four and trained as an eye surgeon, might not have had to do the persuading first hand, but as an aunt to her niece Emma, she’s been known to trawl the shops in search of the best in everything from snowsuits to sunnies.
Which is how Zoobug came to pass. “I was trying to find some suitable sunglasses that had enough UV protection, looked good and could also take the strain of being handled by children,” says Julie. “Since I couldn’t find any, I decided to create them myself. At the time it was an innovative idea to have adult standards of protection in kids’ sunglasses.”
The admission comes as a bit of a shock. But indeed most of us haven’t questioned the quality of cheap plastic highstreet sunglasses too rigorously.
“We’ve become used to buying ‘toy’ sunglasses for kids because there are so many available on the high street,” answers Dr Julie. “But the problem with these types of sunglasses is you can’t be sure they offer the maximum UV protection that complies to stringent international standards. Nor do their lenses necessarily offer optical clarity which means you do not see clearly when you look through the lens. It is only recently that parents have started to be more aware of the variations in quality and the different type of lenses on offer, and I’d like to see much more being done to educate parents about the importance of quality UV protection for their kid’s eyes.”
Posted 23 February 2010 in Products
ECO PRODUCT: biodegradable wipes
WE, AT LITTLEBIG, have a secret addiction of which we’re quite ashamed. We’re wipe addicts. It starts off innocently enough. Baby’s bum is cleaner on the go thanks to a packet of wipes stashed in the handbag. Then you notice those wipes clean the changing mat beautifully, get killer stains out of carpets and rugs, remove spots of staining juice / vomit / felt tip pen out of clothes (your own and your babe’s). Brad Pitt even claims to use them to refresh his, erm, pits. And then, all of a sudden, it hits you, you’re addicted. Despite the fact your son is 3 years old, you still carry a packet of wipes around for ‘emergencies’ - which include cleaning cafe tables before you sit down - and playground swing seats.
The guilty part? Most wipes aren’t biodegradable or anything like it. The supermarket own-brand varieties might be the best at stain-removing, but they’re essentially plastic, non-eco, poison for the environment and your toilet/plumbing if you flush. Whilst we should all quite clearly be using water and washable cloths where possible in lieu of wipes, thankfully there are a growing number of biodegradable alternatives - and ones that are just as effective at cleaning.
Method’s Flushable Bathroom Wipes, £3.50 in the UK at www.methodproducts.co.uk, aren’t baby bottom friendly, but they are intended to mop up toddler toilet spills, and are made from a biodegradable pulp. Nature Babycare’s bio wipes are biodegradable (made from sustainable beechwood sources) - see www.naty.com for stockists, as are Mio’s wipes, £1.50 for 40 in the UK from www.bumpto3.com, which are also flushable (see www.bambinomio.com for international stockists). And we’ve only recently discovered, but really like, Mothercare’s biodegradable, organic wipes which feature 15 per cent cotton, so they’re more like a cloth than a wipe, and are therefore gentler on tiny baby bottoms.
Happy (guilt-free) cleaning.
Posted 9 June 2009 in Products
FOCUS: ARCHITECTMADE
MORTEN T JENSEN, director of ARCHITECTMADE, the Copenhagen-based manufacturer specialising in classic product and tabletop designs by Denmark’s leading historic architects, admits he’s no creative. What Jensen is especially good at is recognising a product that will have serious legs. Many of the designs under the ARCHITECTMADE portfolio - established four years ago and growing - were never ever put into production, but rather were discovered by Jensen in the homes and archives of the likes of Finn Juhl, Poul Kjaerholm and Peter Karpf.
Being architects, these great men never specialised in product design, but, says Jensen, this is their appeal. “Because there was no pressure for any of their products to work commercially, they really come from the heart. You can tell they are things that have been thought about and thought about, often over a number of years.”
Posted 13 November 2008 in Products
TEST RUN - Elodie Details Sippy Cup
Test item: Elodie Details Beaker. Available in four prints: Camouflage, Lucky Cloves, Petit Royal and Crosseyed Jolly.
Cost: £7.50 from www.nordickids.co.uk. For international retailers, see www.elodiedetails.com.
“No, you have to turn it. You can’t pull it.” The Little One keeps trying to pull the lid off his new Elodie Details Beaker. He loves the cute small size, the stylish camo print, and I know it’s a keeper looks-wise. But he wants inside access.
“No, you can’t pull it. You have to screw it. Screw it! Look, round and round. S-c-r-e-w it.”
The Little One says “Round and round”. “Yes, round and round”, I say thinking he’s got it. He tries to pull the lid off again. “No, honey, you can’t pull it. Screw it.”
I give up. Helping The Little One screw the cap off, he grabs it in both hands and all the juice spills onto the floor. The idea of a sippy cup is of course to prevent spills. Not something The Little One is too concerned about. “Oh no, wet!” he exclaims. “Socks wet. Tidy up.”
I clean the floor. The Little One drinks the remaining drips of juice out of the cup.
Posted 1 September 2008 in Eating / Drinking, Products
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