Powder Perfect

An underrated object amongst the old fashioned toiletries: Talcum powder!

It keeps your body dry and cool during hot summer days, and relieves itching and razor burn after shaving. In addition it is not only for use on the body, but can also be shaken into sheets, towels and blankets to add a nice fragrance and keep them fresh. The best talc comes from Italy, known as Viennese chalk or cosmetic talcum. One of the original brands is Italian Borotalco. Penhaligon’s and Caswell-Massey sell talcum in a variety of scents and in decorative canisters for both men and women. If you find the canisters’ appearance threatening to your masculinity, you could always opt for an old fashioned barber’s talc duster…

Combat Stuckism

Writing procrastination can be a pain, but proper writing tools might help you with the motivation. Such as the manual typewriter from Olympia. There’s nothing more satisficing than pulling a failed page out, crushing it between your palms and throwing it into the bin before twisting a blank sheet onto the roll.

If that doesn’t help, with objects from El Casco, at least you will have something beautiful to look at while sitting at the desk. Casco is a Spanish manufacturer originally specialising in revolvers, but during the Great Depression began making staplers. Today they craft a variety of exclusive desktop accessories including the classic M-5 stapler.

Chocolate Comfort

When the warm summerdays suddenly turns rainy and grey, autumn is not far away. Better get ready to find warmth and comfort in cups of hot chocolate and serve it in this old fashioned jug designed specifically for that purpose. It has a nifty wooden stirring spoon to make sure all the lumps of chocolate get blended with the hot milk. Pillivuyt make them by hand in their factory from 1818, guaranteeing for their quality with century- old craftsmanship.

Naturally, you would also need a Danish TEDDY varimixer to whip up tonnes of fluffy cream and make a batch of hot cross buns.