There’s no shame in Scotch tape or Elmer’s glue. Even still, the bright green and orange branding reminds us of grade school–and there’s not a lot of design innovation in their packaging, either.
Now, the “we design every object you can imagine” design firm, Nendo, has remade glue sticks and tape as high-design objects, available for a low price from the stationery company Kokuyo. These new adhesive products are called Gloo, and they feature quiet packaging. Each object is white with a low-contrast gray font, designed to fit into the landscape of your desk more like a sculpture than a 2-for-1 deal at CVS. The only color on the packaging is used to denote each product’s function–gray is standard stickiness, blue is re-stickable, and red promises a strong bond.
The functional pièce de résistance has to be the Gloo Glue Stick. It’s shaped like a square rather than rounded, which means you can glue right up to the corner of your paper, and if you lay it on its side, the stick won’t roll away. The ergonomics of the cap also allow you to “click” it open and closed it with just one hand.
The Gloo Roller Tape Glue sits like a perfectly balanced teardrop. But with a twist, it reveals a roller that can paint a tape onto any surface. Want to cut the tape? Just lift the roller up and the job is done.
The Gloo Tape Dispenser takes your standard desk tape dispenser and transforms it into a minimalist circle sitting on a stand, while the bottom hides a suction cup that can secure itself to your desk.
The three items, along with another glue dispenser, are available in a pack for about $26. That said, they’re only for sale in Japan. Next time you stop by, maybe you could grab us a supply, too?
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