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Call

Light Phone II


Though sleek and vaguely resembling the iPhone, this phone isn’t for the faint of heart or the Instagram-obsessed—its features are limited to calling, messaging, and an alarm clock. But it comes at a time when most of us need a social-media respite anyway, and at the same humble environmental price as 15 Big Macs, that lockdown comfort food with a whopping carbon emission of nine pounds each. Founders Joe Hollier and Kaiwei Tang, who met at Google in 2014, call it a “phone away from phone”—a way to lighten your mental load while reducing your carbon footprint to just 134 pounds over its three-year life span. Models come in black and light gray, and you can also pay for the phone’s carbon offset at checkout if you wish. ($299, thelightphone.com) —Julia Vitale

Protect

Hövding 3


Is there a feeling of freedom more joyful than riding a bicycle without a helmet? With the wind in your hair and caution blown away with it? The answer is a gleeful no. Unfortunately, anybody born to a mother knows the words “Wear a helmet” well. The Swedish company Hövding has a solution—the Hövding 3, an airbag worn around the neck that deploys the instant a wreck begins and surrounds the wearer’s head with a protective inflatable cushion. Ride free, and keep your mom happy. ($354, hovding.com) —Alex Oliveira

Pour

Pomelo Casa


What happens when an interior designer and a stylist join forces? In the case of Pomelo Casa, an irresistible collection of tableware. Francesca de la Fuente and Maria Strada are Spaniards living in Los Angeles who got the very bright idea to import traditional, hand-painted terra-cotta ceramics from Granada to the U.S. The bowls and plates are tempting, but this pitcher is a must. In addition to its primary purpose, it can also be used as a vase. But do everyone a favor and fill it up with an extra-large batch of jalapeño margaritas to send off summer with. ($185, pomelocasa.com) —Ashley Baker

Watch

Coronation


What happened in Wuhan during the months of lockdown? This harrowing, 113-minute documentary, composed of amateur footage recorded by residents of the original virus epicenter, and compiled by Chinese artist Ai Weiwei from his home in Europe, reveals how a city of 11 million people completely changed its face. The profound transformations undergone in quarantine also point up the extent of authoritarianism in China. Implemented by the government in recent years, mechanisms of social control—surveillance, ideological brainwashing, and the like—are an unsettling undercurrent in the film, providing a disturbing glimpse into the future, in which China is destined to play a major role. (vimeo.com) —Elena Clavarino

Issue No. 61
September 12, 2020
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Issue No. 61
September 12, 2020