While I love this very special Cosme Decorte piece designed by Marcel Wanders, two things make me sad about it: one is that I most likely will not be able to get my hands on it, and the other is that unlike last year's piece by Wanders, there is no English translation for the extensive description at the Cosme Decorte website (last year I found it via Facebook.) This year's limited-edition face powder is called Awakening Beauty, the theme of which builds off of last year's powder, which was Sleeping Beauty. This was the most I was able to find about the inspiration behind the design: "Silently she lies cased in her dream world. All around, water lilies dance in time to the beat of her loving heart, a protective embrace that holds her forever young and beautiful. At last she awakes to the sound of a soft lullaby of golden bells."
As with the 2012 compact, this powder has a delicate fairy and flowers imprinted on the powder. The porcelain bell lid is functional, producing a soft ring when lifted.
(images from cosmedecorte.com)
Wanders has an affinity for bells that goes back at least as far as 2007, when he created eight large-scale, hand-painted bells for a "personal editions" collection. These were largely decorative but also were available with an optional light fixture. Like the bell used for the powder, these have bows at the top.
(images from marcelwanders.com)
Earlier this year he revisited the bell theme with these lamps for Moooi.
(image from marcelwanders.com)
He also used the bell in this cheese plate for Marks & Spencer for their winter 2013 home goods collection.
(image from marksandspencer.com)
For Wanders, "The bell represents a very early and essential form of communication, generating a welcoming ring that brings people together for festivities and congregations." In the case of the Cosme Decorte powder, the bell is used to awaken the fairy from her slumber.
What do you think of this? I think it's meant as a collector's piece, but I'm curious to see if anyone out there would actually use it.