On a prosaic side of things that go through my mind these days: I need a new phone. The existing one is years old, an iphone 3, still doing ok, but some buttons do not work anymore and it follows instructions like it was narcotized. Slow. Very. Slow. So I actually wanted to get another iphone. But – to be honest- I won’t. I did not like what apple did with its map app using clients. And I do not like their very sincere optimizing taxes. And a couple of other things, like the never ending stream of lawyers sent out to the world; although, I think there they are in good company with men in black from other enterprises.

So, I need a new phone, and the company that was cool a couple of years ago is not on my to-buy-from list. At least for phones. I  guess Nokia with their new Lumia 920 is. I was trying to be rational about it and figured that most of the stuff I do on the phone is taking pictures, searching things on the map, and email-surfing-texting. And using a few apps, and writing stuff. But I kind of like the new one from them, and hence I am not totally rational there.

The next rather prosaic question is whether I can actually afford it. So you see: It is down to earth day here in Zurich.

Another down to earth question: I need to come up with a couple of scented decisions. Like trying to decide on which soaps to pour. Every year, for the holidays and other special occasions, I pour fragrant soaps. So far I did a TUBEROSE fragrant soap, for the support of the Kickstarter campaign of Evelyn Avenue for Only Child, Brian Pera’s latest film project. This tuberose soap is super rich in rose, jasmine and has what I think is a nice tuberose note.

And I have ROSE fragrant soap that I did two or three times so far. This one is also nice.

And I have a Mandarines ambrées soap. This is the first soap that I did and it is very lovely and a favorite of many.

So, I have to decide what I make for the holidays, for friends and family and loyal clients and I simply do not know, yet.  I cannot make all three as I have to pour 50 pieces each.

But here is what I know: I love the WAY I pack them and will keep this. A simple cellophane to protect the scent, an A4 paper, folded, wrapping it, and a cellophane bag to protect it all. Straightforward. But I think I will come up with a different print on the paper. I feel like going a bit louder: something like today’s picture. Not exactly this, but something like it. At least for the rose.

This illustration is actually a super quick draft that I did a while ago on the pad. I can see myself coming up with a streamlined packaging color code and fonts et al for my fragrant soaps. As the production costs (work not counted) for these soaps is pretty high, and as I cannot ship them for a reasonable price (packed they are more than 2 cm thick, and then the Swiss Post thinks it is in the 20$ shipment costs range when shipping to the US…): I do not see how these can ever become a real product. But they are nice gifts. And they are nice add-ons. I give them (sometimes) to double bottle orders. Maybe I will start to offer them systematically at some point in time: Offering “buy two and get a soap for free”.

We will see. First I have to see what phone to get and which soap to make for the holidays. Which soap would you prefer?