THE MODERN MINT BLOG
A Magazine Rack? Or Something Else?
We are rapidly expanding the products we offer on the Modern Mint Shop – you may have noticed the new trug/carriers go up this week? But we are finding that we don’t just want to sit here letting someone else do all the hard work of designing and making a product… we want to do this ourselves!
Enter our new designer (he’s Italian, so surely he must have style?) who has started developing new product ideas with us.
As ever, we start from a broad canvas and try and discover what it is we want to make, what it is you want to buy, what style we can bring to the piece and how it can be designed in a way that reduces waste.
We find out the rules to design by as we go along, and when we find these rules, we can use them to inspire new products. This is what we have so far…
A) Minimal design, maximal effect.
B) Closed loop material usage (to reduce waste.)
C) Can the packaging hold as much value as the item itself?
It is an exciting journey, with no guaranteed reward – perhaps we design a load of rubbish, or never find the funding to make anything, or the products just don’t thrill people the way a new mobile phone does… who knows? But that is what is lovely, and spurs us on – who knows? We are in this to unearth treasure!
Here are the first designs for a magazine rack. A magazine rack may sound a little dull, but we are forever needing somewhere to put all the post that comes in, so that is why we have started here. We think this could be made of green oak, or maybe cork…
What do you think?
Below is a take on our logo here at Modern Mint, using wood. It could be the basis for a wine rack, a shoe rack, a letterbox, a cutlery tray, a toothbrush holder… you get the idea right? We are exploring…
We have a few designs up our sleeves for ashtrays, letterboxes and cantilevered pergolas (this one is incredibly exciting!) and would also like to make a dog house and a spice tin. We have just been to India, which is why we think we need a spice tin.
If you have any products you are in need of at home or in the garden, want them to be funky, a piece of art, while also being practical… get in touch with us here at Modern Mint!
Look forward to this design journey from magazine racks to… who knows what?!?
The Amelia Project – Episode 88: Didius Julianus
Friends of mine write a sitcom podcast called The Amelia Project (I wrote about this years ago, when they started it….!) December 2024 I had some fun playing the tiny part of Fornio in episode 88 – Didius Julianus. I have not listened to the episode yet, as I am clearly not an actor… and the thought of listening to my dulcet tones for the few minutes I’m in it just… makes me feel ill. But the recording and being in the studio was great fun, the real actors were hilarious and the script is brilliant – not just funny, …
Waltham Place Topiary Workshop 2026
With the European Boxwood and Topiary Society, I run two workshops each year at Waltham Place, one of my favourite gardens. The next topiary workshop there will be on Friday September 4th 2026. Details and how to book yet to be announced, but get in touch with them now to get on the waiting list, as last year we had double the amount of people wanting a place than we had space for. The Waltham Place website is here – topiary workshop 2026. See the teaching page for how else I can help you with the topiary in your garden …
Box Hill – Novella by Adam Mars-Jones
I picked this book up back in 2020 because of the title – Box Hill – fabulous, I thought, a book about boxwood. I’ll peruse this for its respective thoughts on the plant I clip most when I make topiary. I didn’t read the blurb on the back. Didn’t know the author (although I knew the publisher, Fitzcarraldo Editions, as I love many of the essays they have published… so trusted the author would be worth spending time with.) By page 2 I realised this novel wasn’t quite what I had expected. I started the book at 10pm, after getting …