I Store All My Bits and Bobs in This Catchall Meant for Bartenders
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I remember exactly where I was the first time I saw them. It was early afternoon at Talea Beer Co. in Cobble Hill. I’d ordered an iced tea, and I watched as the bartender did their dance, pouring the drink, then swiftly reaching over and pulling back the round top of a little stainless-steel globe to reveal a pile of perfectly cut lemons.What a sweet little storage container, I thought. At least three were lined up on the bar, filled with limes, olives, and other drink accoutrements — a sleek way to keep cocktail toppers neatly organized and stowed. I immediately thought,This thing could hide anything.
It was a bit of a eureka moment. At the time, I was planning my wedding and had worked tirelessly with a stationery designer to create the perfect matchbooks, but I was struggling to find the right vessel for them at the venue. These silver globes felt like a natural answer, stylish and very much in line with the restaurant venue. I promptly ordered six fromAmazon, all for less than $15 each. They worked perfectly for the event, rolled open to display the piles of matchbooks. Afterward, I was left with six beautiful silver globes to use across my apartment and fill with treasures (a.k.a. clutter).
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While these were originally designed to store sugar cubes, it has become clear to me that the true magic of the design is its versatility: It can be an object for both display and disguise. I’d often tried to organize the bits and bobs around my 700-square-foot apartment using catchall dishes. Their contents would include hair ties, keys, matches, single dollar bills, and screws left over from Ikea furniture projects. While the various dishes I’ve collected still have a place, they started to feel disorganized and exposed when guests came over. So I decided to replace them with my sugar bowls. One went on the entryway table for keys and loose bodega change, another on my dresser to be filled with hair ties and excess jewelry. There is one in my living room with matchbooks to light the various candles. In a recentinterview, I even spotted one in Care of Chan founder Sue Chan’s medicine cabinet — brilliant!
I opted for the cheap Amazon globes, but if I were to do it all again, I might splurge on a more sculptural version likethis onefrom Hue-Gah Home. If I were a patient person, I would scour eBay for a vintage French version that would bring Parisian café vibes into my living room. Like these elevated varieties, though, my low-cost version is still the perfect marriage of practical and playful, and every time I spot it in a cool design store or a hot new bar, I smile to myself thinking about this stroke of genius.
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