Pickup sticks

Sway Edit (Shoreditch)

GOODS & SERVICES • FOUND Shop

No one understands how objects shape daily life and ritual better than Japanese designers, as evidenced at lifestyle store Sway Edit. You’ll need a good amount of time to browse homewares, incense, textiles, stationery, crafts and chef-quality knives, each selected with a collector’s eye for proportion, material and use.

Although the stationery section brought me in, it was the kitchenware that really got me excited. There are bento boxes with clever compartments, delicate sake cups next to thick-walled mugs, teapots, chopsticks and glassware, and contemporary and cute designs sit next to the more traditional and minimal in a gorgeous, cohesive range.

Then there are the chopstick holders. I’ve seen a few in my time, usually nothing more than a plain, white, porcelain stand to separate our chopsticks from the table. Here, the extensive collection feels almost like a private obsession, spanning ceramic miniatures, carved wood, animals, abstract shapes, and, my personal favourite, the chocolate rye bread loaf. Truly, a mini museum within a shop.

It’s this fixation on the overlooked, the pleasure in a minor thing made beautiful, that defines Sway’s sensibility. –Amy-Rose Holland

→ Shop: Sway Edit (Shoreditch) • 73 Curtain Rd • Mon-Thu 11a-7p, Fri-Sat 11a-9p, Sun 11a-5p.