Subscription Boxes Bring Decor at Your Door
If you’re into beauty products, you probably know Birchbox or maybe the man in your life buys his razors from Dollar Shave Club. From razors to whiskey, and most everything in between comes in subscription boxes these days. I am referring to those monthly subscription boxes that you subscribe to online, the mailman delivers and you taste, test and try . Now design insiders are getting on the bandwagon.
Here are two of my favorites in the design space:
DesignerBox
I spotted DesignerBox at M&O in September and immediately fell for it. Created for design lovers, aesthetes, collectors or those that seek exclusivity, Designerbox recently launched the first commercial website dedicated to exclusive deco and design objects sold using the subscription-based model.
How it Works: The designerbox subscription ensures that you that each month you will receive a trendy exclusive object, signed by an internationally renowned designer in a beautiful numbered wooden box. Sign up for a non-binding subscription of 3, 6 or 12 months and each month, a new original design object arrives at your door. Included in the box is the object, a signed certificate of authenticity, and The Iconic newspaper all in a numbered wooden box. The program is customizable, and renewable.
A BOX FULL OF STORIES
Part of the cachet of designerBox is its story. You get a deep dive into the heart of contemporary creativity discovering in each object the story of the creator, of his or her universe and of the know-how to make it through the newsletter “The Iconic” included into the box . (Iconic also sheds lights on all current trends in design and on iconic objects.) You can also join the designerbox’s adventure online through interviews, design news and deco discoveries featured on the designerbox’s website.
Subscriptions starting at 29€/month and is coming to the U.S in 2016. Designerbox is also working on a to-the-trade program. This could be a really cool referral or client gifting program…
AFFORDABLE RARITY
The McCann report just declared that the new luxury is all about rarity. Designerbox touches that cord- the objects have been created by talented designers for subscribers only and are sold solely on designerbox.com. You get privileged access to contemporary design and you can discover the pleasure found in a high end collection.
Eucopia – European Living in a Box
Eucopia thinks a lot of Americans would be happier with a little touch of European joie de vivre in their lives, plus there’s an incredible richness of excellent design being produced in Europe. So they put the two together and created a subscription service filled with items that are hard to find in the U.S., and thanks to the high price of international shipping, even harder to buy.
How it Works: Sign up for this quirky service and for $49 will get you a Birchbox-like subscription box of monthly deliveries of between three and five design items billed as the best home living the continent has to offer. Or choose Eucopia Mini, a shipment of one item per month; starting at $15 Eucopia brings you everything you need to add some European flavor to day-to-day living in a themed box. From the kitchen to the office, from snacks you’ll devour right away to heirlooms you’ll pass down for generations- if it’s beautiful, useful, and interesting, it’s Eucopia material.
Here’s What’s In it: The first box just shipped and it included:
- The Magisso Cake Server, a cake slicer by Finnish designers Laura Bougdanos and Vesa Jääskö which creates perfectly shaped wedges of cakes and pies in a whimsical and seemingly asymmetrical way.. It won a 2010 Red Dot Award.
- Four brightly colored Ekobo’s Biobu Gusto plates. These sustainable, brightly colored plates feel great in your hand, and they’re all dishwasher safe.
- A jar of Rose Hip Jam by Podravaka, a Croatian condiment and spread maker in Croatia. Americans don’t really know what rose hips are, which is pretty much why Toon put them in his first Eucopia box. “In Eastern Europe, rose hips are pretty much ubiquitous,” he says. He wants to educate Americans on just how widespread this seemingly obscure fruit is.
- Two Happy Hippos, from Italian confectioner Kinder. They are hippopotamus-shaped vanilla cookies filled with hazelnut cream, from the makers of Kinder Eggs, which have been illegal in this country (because of their embedded toy surprises) since 1938.
- Eucopia also has a pack-in magazine, which is dedicated to the day-to-day awesomeness of European living. The first issue has several articles on rose hips, including a crepe recipe; a two-page infographic about European sugar consumption; an interview with a Magisso designer; and an editorial advocating for making the Kinder Surprise Egg legal in the United States. Finally, everyone received an official Eucopia passport, including stickers for each country represented in the box.
Future Eucopia boxes will include more handmade and custom-designed items.
What do you think? Is the idea worth stealing? How can your design business capitalize on this trend? Pillows by Post… Seasonal accessory refresh? Let me know your thoughts.
Eucopia images via Fast Company