Better grab yo umbrella – we be makin’ it rain lo-fi goods with the Ecuador Kit. One jumbo pencil, a stack of loose-leaf grid paper (plus a folder to protect ‘em), and a rainbow-throwin’ set of 12 colored pens –  it’s STMT X ECUADOR!

SHOP STMT X ECUADOR

This is mos def a kit of first – all these items? Never before included in any STMT Kit! We couldn’t resist them for that reason – but also, they seem pretty much tailor-made for bringin’ out your inner kid. Sit down, spread out some of that paper, grab that phat pencil and pens and throw your own rainbows!

Check out the Ecuador Kit, and read the Low Down to hear about the crackin’ mom-and-pop shop where we scored most of the goods.

The weather in Quito is seriously four seasons in every day. I woke up to brisk fall weather, then it’s warm sunshine, then it’s hot summer weather (got sunburnt for the 2nd time in my life!), then the lighting and thunder hits and the sky is all gray till night comes and it’s cold, wet, and feels like winter.

But what all that crazy-ass weather gets you? RAINBOWS. I mean, everything seemed to be screaming rainbows. From the goods we found to the Ecuador’s Ministry of Tourism current campaign logo – a huge circular shaped rainbow! I even packed the perfect washi tape for this sourcing trip’s travel journal – rainbow stripes!

Second day in and I’m headed to a museum when I spot a series of office supply shops. There was one particular shop that was crackin’! I’m talking mobs of people and lines 5 people deep before it was your turn. I knew this place would have something for our STMT X Ecuador Kit. Whatever all the locals were buying, I wanted in on it. The shop was a family business with the matriarch, the Grandmother, tending the super old-school register. The mothers, the daughters, the sons… everyone was so personable. I loved watching them interact with their customers.

I asked to see the A5 notebooks and the gal pulled out a glossy notebook with a cover featuring a race car. I asked for other designs – I got horses, cats, and more muscle cars. I asked if there was anything more simple. Nope, she explained that all notebooks look like that in Ecuador.

But I didn’t sweat it. I asked to look at the loose-leaf packets of paper. We’ve never included any loose-leaf sheets, and I’ve been wanting to since the 3rd World Tour kicked off. My only concern was the folders. Would they also be super cheesy? Nope! Clear front cover with a colored back. And the color options included pastels!

The mom-and-pop shop also had a pack of 12 colored pens PERFECT for the Ecuador Kit. I LOVE that this pack is the only set of colored pencils or pens that I’ve ever spotted where the colors are not arranged like a rainbow. Instead, they start with their country colors from right to left. The other colors? NO clue how they decided to arrange ‘em!

Secured the inventory and decided to move on. I walked down the street and straight into the back of an office supply shop. I could see the cabinet full of writing instruments from the street. Within seconds, I spotted them – jumbo-sized turquoise pencil with a green foil-stamped elephant! They totally match the pretty pastel folders! Jumbo-sized pencils may be made for kids, but who says only kids get all the jumbo-packed fun?

oxxo,
Hen

The Portugal Kit theme unfolded as soon as we booked the tickets. Our lives are ruled by three-letter country codes – I’m talkin’ everything, from the way we organize to the way we talk!

PRT = Portugal’s country code. As soon as I read those three letters… everything was all about the PYT. We have mad love for Michael Jackson, and it felt destined that all things Portugal would be pretty and mos def rad. And our hunch proved to be true.

We were nonstop snapping photos of the beautiful tiles spotted everywhere – from seriously old tiles to modern tiles, bright colored tiles to muted ones, groups of tiles that created a scene to other groups that created patterns.

So when it came time to design the Portugal Kit poster, I kept going back to two things: the tiles that run deep in the Portuguese culture, and the amazing flower-scented pencils in the kit. I knew that the poster had to involve flowers and patterns that could be “tiled”. Because everything we spied in Portugal be a PRT. Pretty Rad Thing.



(photos RAD AND HUNGRY Sourcing Trip)