There’s just something about blowing bubbles. As you watch those perfect translucent spheres float away on the wind, it’s hard to stop your jaw from dropping open and letting everything around you fade into the background for a few seconds—whether you’re six years old or a grown-up. But does that joy justify spending $450 on a bubble wand, albeit one that’s made of porcelain and 14K gold–plated steel? Joe Doucet, the CEO of design brand OTHR, which produces the lavish trinket, says yes. ”The beauty of our platform is that it allows the world’s best designers access to toy with typology that has not yet been considered by the world of high design—including things like a bubble wand, birdhouse, or bottle opener,“ he explains. ”The Bubble Ball & Wand is unique in that it transforms an ephemeral object—a plastic toy that will likely get thrown away—into a unique piece of functional and fun art that you can own for generations.“
At first, New Zealand native Lance McGregor, the New Jersey–based product designer behind the Bubble Ball & Wand, wasn’t sure what he wanted to create. “Then one day, I was at the beach with my kids and we were blowing bubbles,“ he says. “The activity of blowing bubbles is so cool and beautiful that I thought, Why not make this into a luxe item for adults?” The resulting two-piece creation is 3-D–printed and hand-finished on demand (in fact, all OTHR products are made this way) in Brooklyn. “This sustainable process not only allows for less waste; it also allows designers to experiment on a small scale,” says Doucet. We’ll never look at this simple plaything the same way again.
