Pocket brass and Blue Faces

This time of year is a time of experimentation for me. Work has kind of settled down, it's too cold for anyone to make plans, and I spend a lot of time thinking about how to make my life more efficient. Which means I have once again left Notion behind, have redone my desk twice in the last month, and have been seriously debating adding to this newsletter in some way. What that will be is still up in the air because this downtime can only last so long. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

in this issue:

🏠 Hong Kong Corner House

🇯🇵 Higonokami knife

⌚ Q Timex Mini

Hong Kong Corner House

A few months ago I spoke about finding a designer turned YouTuber that blew me away with his super creative method of journaling. Now he's back with another banger. This time, it's all about how he designed a corner house in Hong Kong. And by designed, I mean journaled it into existence. He implemented specific details from his travels to Hong Kong into the building's design. For example, the shirt from a movie he watched is hanging on a clothesline outside and his favorite dim sum shop is drawn in on the ground floor.

It's not only another great example of this unique method of journaling, but the video is also technically very interesting and beautiful to watch. I got very lucky many years ago and was able to travel to Hong Kong twice for work and this building really does capture the vibe. It feels like he grabbed a blank building out of my memory and filled it in with a sketch of his own. Each of his videos are less than five minutes long so if you have some spare time it's well worth the binge.

Higonokami knife

I'm not entirely sure if I've already written about the Higonokami knife in an issue before, so if I have I apologize. But if I haven't then I also apologize because you should know that this thing exists (if you don't already). I first discovered this knife when working for Everydaycarry as there were so many people that had this simple, inexpensive knife as a key piece in their EDC. I was always drawn to it because I'm a big fan of brass/gold EDC gear, not to mention my obsession with Japanese design. But it was only about two years ago that I finally got one in my collection and I can't recommend it enough.

The Higonokami is one of the most recognizable pieces of EDC gear to come out of Japan and has a history that goes back over 100 years. It doesn't have a locking mechanism and relies instead on holding it correctly when you use it, so if you pick one up I urge caution. It's very sharp. I mainly leave it on my desk for opening packages and cutting loose threads so it doesn't see much real-world use for me. Fun pop culture side note: it was the pocket knife used by the protagonist in the Studio Ghibli film The Boy and the Heron which had me pointing at the screen in the theater like that Leonardo DiCaprio meme.

Q Timex Mini

Most watches that I wear are massive. As I type this I'm wearing a Garmin Fenix 8 which has an insane 51mm diameter and looks like I have a small dinner plate on my wrist. It's not that I love giant watches, just that the watches that I do like tend to be huge. I do have a smaller vintage watch but I'm always nervous to wear it because it's decades old and has sentimental value. The last thing I want to do is destroy it by knocking it into a doorframe which I do a fair amount. So something like the new Q Timex Mini really intrigues me. It's tiny at just 30mm in size which makes sense seeing as it's technically a women's watch, but it's also a modern stainless steel quartz watch that you can take a beating.

Back in the day, men's watches were tiny compared to the tool watch behemoths we have today. And if you're truly going for that vintage watch look then I'm a firm believer that it needs to be smol. Plus, what really gets me about this gorgeous Q timex Mini is the Tiffany Blue watch face. Of course, this isn't actually Tiffany Blue since they'd be sued instantly, but I mean c'mon. We know what they were going for. My one complaint is that I wish it had a dive bezel. I'm not a diver, but tracking my laundry is more useful to me in an everyday kind of watch than tracking a second time zone.

🆒 Special thanks to Cool Supply members! 🆒
Abstronautica, Taylor Cash, Ben Sorensen, Daniel Hernandez, Becca Farsace, Charles Malave, Dean D, Jacob Mitchell, Justin Oster, Jonathan Potopovich, Ali Rabbani, Airton Zanon, Ben Murphy, Tristan Onfroy, Philipp Knall, Felipe Catano, Anita, Colt Cox, Ben Shearin, and Myke Hurley! ❤️