Bodum Fyrkat, Travel Towel and Travel Wallet
Bodum Fyrkat
Probably best known for its cafetieres, Bodum brings a pop sensibility to this line of picnic BBQs. The phonetically interesting Fyrkat (apparently a Danish castle) comes in a range of zesty colours, with an enamel-coated steel body and curvy chrome-plated steel base.
The saucer pod styling and funky contrasting silicone handle and clips make it a cool alternative to the utilitarian appearance of most BBQs – which, unlike the Fyrkat, are also rarely portable enough to throw in the car boot for a manly session of al-fresco burning (this is a barbecue after all).
The picnic-esque size also makes the Fyrkat a practical option for the apartment balcony or small back garden of style-conscious grillers.
Bodum Fyrkat, 39cm x 39cm x 36cm, €52 from crateandbarrel.com
Travel Towel
Okay, so you might be wondering what the gadgetry is here: does it have a built-in hair straightener? Or perhaps it’s self-drying?
Sorry to disappoint, but the innovation is simply the addition of a pair of large pockets in which to stash your book, Kindle or sodden togs. Oh and it’s an interesting Dutch-Irish hybrid, made from Irish linen, but in Amsterdam. Not your average travel towel then.
The towel’s makers claim linen makes it lighter, faster drying and 20 times more absorbent. Who’d have thought? These towels are large too, big enough to double as a sarong après dip – and how many sarongs have a pocket or two?
Travel Towel, 2m x 1.45m, €95 from travelteq.com
Travel Wallet
Its Aussie designers haven’t exactly stretched themselves on the naming front, but Bellroy’s Travel Wallet has plenty of clever detailing and is well thought through on every other front. The idea is that it fits all of a guy’s travel documents in one neat, perfectly minimalist leather wallet.
There are designated no-crease slots for your passport and boarding cards. It has a secreted-away micro-pen for border-control paperwork. Separate pockets allow you to divide your credit cards between those you need quick access to (when passing through the personal electronics section of duty free, for example) and those cards that rarely see the light of day. And the vegetable-tanned leather is beautifully soft to avoid butt-freeze. Travel Wallet: actually, it doesn’t need to say anything more.
Travel Wallet, 15cm x 9.4cm, Aus$120 from au.bellroy.com(and check out the Seinfeld clip on the dangers of an overstuffed wallet)