In case you missed it last week – we've hit 2 million subscribers! Big thanks to all of you. Now straight back to this week's edition: making magic is what 19-year-old Billy Menezes does for a living. Less flashy but no less impressive are those making savory ice cream, old-school snorkeling masks and redesigning bad street flyers. Plus, how to find a co-founder (it's harder than you think).
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01. The rise of running clubs has been well documented. Are swim clubs next? Pond is a Copenhagen-based swimwear brand catering to a new generation of ‘urban swimmers’ – selling swimwear that prioritizes freedom of movement and wearability out of the water. Through its Dip Club, Pond invites members to join swim sessions in local hotspots around the city, as well as releasing city swimming guides for locations all around the world. Also check out Friday Morning Swim Club in Chicago and Dip Club (a different one) in north-east England.
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02. If you're doubling down on swimming as your sport, Atlantic Coastal Supplies in Cornwall, UK, just dropped a snorkeling mask that looks straight out of a Wes Anderson movie.
03. Tired? Probably, judging by the huge market for things like sleep aids, sleep snacking and sleep coaches. Most recently, breathing products have become a big deal. Increasingly people are building brands around the concept of mouth tape, which keeps the mouth shut to prevent bad breath, brain fog and a bunch of other things. See Dryft.
04. Billy Menezes is like a much younger and cooler David Blaine – his street stunts include pulling snakes out of storefront ads and making the Mona Lisa appear on the side of a building. See it to believe it. He released a short film about his magic last year, and, more recently, a deck of playing cards with artist Kobe Might.
05. Serious question – are cigarettes the next thing to go ‘craft’? Hestia is the first cigarette brand to be approved by the FDA in 15 years. While it doesn't back away from the fact that smoke is a carcinogen – there's a Surgeon General's warning rotating on the bottom of its site – founder David Sley is attempting to position it as an occasional indulgence like alcohol, by only using tobacco from family farms, gifting to influencers and selling in shops like Tiny Grocer. Watch this space.
06. Another brand banking on all-natural: Super Chill makes cannabis fruit chews and jellies out of fruit and herbs grown in its garden. It also uses rosin, a cannabis concentrate, instead of distillate which can sometimes trigger the paranoia that some get when taking typical edibles. Not that we'd know.
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07. Mister McCoy's Island Ices is both a gelateria and a natural wine bar. Founded by Rory McCoy and Olaya Ruiz last summer, it quickly gained attention far outside its Mallorca base. Rory tells us how he made it happen.
How did it all start?
‘We moved from Hackney Wick in London to Spain three days before Brexit and, eventually, we bought a house with land in the Alpujarras Mountains [in Granada] and made our first vintage of wine. We needed to open a business and for it to be seasonal so that we could spend focused time on the land, writing music and [enjoying] the nuisances of isolation – we felt Mallorca could provide this. I'd fanatically made ice cream for friends and family as a teenager, so I drew up plans to open an ice cream shop.’
Why ice cream and natural wine?
‘They're simple pleasures life has to offer. I like purity in flavor and this, by default, is the nature of natural wines. With ice cream, I look for this clarity through the use of clean or organic flavors, spices and local fruits.’
08. Another way to stand out in the world of ice cream: go savory. Matter at Hand just opened in London and sells flavors like cucumber, and goat's cheese and green olive, in small batches.
09. The mantra ‘too many cooks spoil the broth’ doesn't apply to the team behind Mosto in Bali, a natural wine bar and restaurant. It's collaboratively run by a six-person team, each with their own focus: ‘There are very clear lines of responsibility,’ head chef Lorenzo de Petris tells us. ‘But we try to stay humble. I don't say: this is what's going onto the menu. We sit down, try it together and then decide.’
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TRY IT.
Clicking with a co-founder is tough work, but it also helps spread the workload. Here's our guide to finding one.
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10. We also asked the Mosto team where they would take us out to eat if we came to Bali: ‘FED is an incredible concept that amazing local Indonesian chefs have come up with. Korean steakhouse Si Jin is really impressive from a service and product point of view. SKOOL Kitchen is done by Tai Buddha and Adam McAsey. It's a great open-fire cooking spot that's down in Canggu. Indigo is a Japanese place with a lot of hidden French influences.’ And for drinks? ‘Club Soda in Canggu and the vinyl bar Peels Records.’
11. ‘Yuzu is the it flavor in CPG food and drink brands right now,’ Dan Q Dao, the NYC and Saigon-based founder of District One Studios tells us. ‘For decades, the Japanese citrus, which has historically been tough to find in the US due to regulations around fruit export, has been coveted for its balance of floral and tart qualities. The demand is peaking now: Whole Foods named it an ingredient to watch, and it's on the radar of top chefs and bartenders worldwide. For full disclosure, I have worked with yuzu hard seltzer from Lunar and cold-pressed yuzu juice from YUZUCO – both are really taking the ingredient and transforming how people think about it.’
12. Artist Max Kolomatsky recently found inspiration with a vigilante mission to redesign bad street flyers for free – like this one of a goth band seeking a guitarist – and documenting it online. His videos double as a tutorial on his creative process, gaining him a bigger online audience and the attention of brands (he's now a partner of creative software brand Adobe).
13. Our contributor Yaling Jiang noticed a brand that's going all-in on its space in Shanghai. ‘I recently stumbled upon Melt Season, a luxury Chinese perfume brand. It just opened its first store in a restored old villa and features a plant-covered piano in the courtyard, white-washed decor and cocoon-like installations. Visitors are guided on a traditional wooden walkway to the second floor, where the products are displayed.’
14. Another unconventional retail strategy: opening a physical space that doesn't sell your product. After launching in 2019, Madrid-based clothing brand Neutrale opened two cafes embodying the Mediterranean lifestyle and selling local goods (but not its own line). It created brand awareness that's serving its redesigned minimalist store – which Neutrale just opened around the corner from one of the cafes – very well.
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Start Smart: Bringing neon to the masses with Neon Workshops
Richard Wheater wants his studio, Neon Workshops, to be the go-to place for neon lights in the UK, sharing his knowledge and passion for the craft with as wide an audience as possible. Mailchimp and QuickBooks have helped the company streamline operations, allowing it to target the right people and simplifying back-end finances – freeing up Richard to focus on the creative side.
Read the full article here.
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15. Rare Humans is Vienna's answer to Corteiz (the London streetwear brand that's created next-level hype with clothing exchanges and lots more). Rare Humans recently hosted a ‘free store’ that had fans sprinting through the streets to grab one of its slogan tees. It shows there's still life in hype business models.
16. Kuala Lumpur-based Godspeed Run Club was started by two friends who, in their words, ‘sucked at running’. They started jogging together and eventually built up a community. They just dropped a merch collaboration with Dubai-based athletics brand Atlas Collectif.
17. More merch: UVU is a slick new brand from gym junkie and fitfluencer Adi Gillespie.
18. At the other end of the spectrum: Tombolo specifically sells ‘inactivewear’ and just dropped a zip-up angel lobster shirt – ideal for a trip to Bali to hang with the Mosto team.
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Elsewhere in Courier:
🤳 On TikTok: The Armenian bakery in Paris rising out of war.
💻 Online: Meet the man turning mud into ‘really nice ceramics’.
📰 In print: In-store stocks of the mag are running low. Buy yours here.
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