Hasta La Ideas

Earlier this summer lucky Los Angelinos welcomed Poketo‘s 4,000 square foot storefront to 3rd Street in Downtown—an airy sunlit space clad in raw plywood that owners Angie Myung and Ted Vadakan call the “actual realization of what you see online.” While the shop carries a selection of items not available online, including some rarer products from Poketo’s archives, the rest of the world can rest assured that the bulk of their goods are still available online, as well as in your nearest Target store soon (their second paper goods collaboration with Target was just announced).

Before Poketo was around, you felt privileged if you happened to stumble upon the kind of simple, colorful, minimalist desk accessories and notebooks that they’re best known for. But lest you think Poketo is just a cutesy stationery store, Myung and Vadakan rigorously curate their offerings and regularly work with artists and designers to develop new collections especially for their shop. Aside from their iconic striped backpacks, some of our favorite products include the Stand by Me spiral planner, made more perfect with the addition of a string closure manila envelope attached to the front cover, an improvement over the pocket in the back of Moleskine notebooks. The moment you use that pocket it becomes impossible to actually write on the pages, but by simply moving that feature to the front cover you make the same notebook vastly more useful.

(more…)