Ordinary things

At home, we have a “useful things drawer”, where we keep things like candles, matches, batteries, ribbon, thumbtacks, and other bits and bobs of little value but with much purpose.

Kiosk is a little store whose owners travel the world to stock their shop with just this kind of thing: the humble, anonymous, often traditional design that anyone can get at the general store down the road.

Chalk from Finland


Finnish Sisu Candy


But because Kiosk’s goods have been sourced from Japan, Germany, Sweden, Mexico or Finland, they reflect local aesthetics and needs, providing a hard-to-bottle flavour of ordinary life in each country. The owners say:

"We opened Kiosk to offer an antidote to over-design. We consider the objects we stock to be humble, straightforward and beautiful for their simplicity and directness."

Spoons from Japan

dish brush from Sweden

So next time you’re in Soho, New York, be sure to visit the Kiosk store… or just click here for the online version.


And next time you're in the supermarket buying candles, matches or soap, take a moment to appreciate how these bits of humble design reflect our needs and aesthetics too.