Dearest internet friends, 

I hope 2025 treated you right.

Alyssa and I moved our life from Lisbon to the Caribbean, a somewhat rogue idea that we gave much less thought than we probably should have. And it’s worked out beautifully. We spend our work afternoons taking a 5-min drive to the beach, leaving our phones at home and just listening to the waves lap for an hour; reading something light, talking about the day, solving each others problems and dreaming up grand schemes for the future.

We threw a bunch of parties across the US and I got to meet and hang out with a bunch of you, while our favourite DJs spun our favourite songs in the background. Vacation® is now on the shelves of over 14,000 stores (much love to our outstandingly great team & to all of you who have supported the brand since day one).

If there’s one thing I understand more, year after year, it’s that life takes a hard turn for the better when you go all-fucking-in on your most genuine interests and desires.

We spent the tail end of November back in Kyoto, building our collection of design references, vintage Walkman's and '80s magazines to influence what we’re about to introduce with Club Poolsuite. As ever, I can’t wait to see what you think.

But until then, here’s our hottest hyperlinks of 2025 - as clicked by you, our global committee of taste connoisseurs.

Catch you next year ☼

Marty 

Hot Links

Your top 5 links from 2025.

☼ Flare is a candle lamp from Studio Douze Degrés. It’s inspired by maritime lighthouses, and turns candlelight into this beautiful, luminous signal in your home.

☼ I made moves to become more like this guy who quit his job, moved to a small Caribbean island and now scoots around in a little boat. It's a work in progress.

☼ Not a dumb phone, but not a constant distraction in your pocket either. Super intrigued by what the team at Meadow are building.

☼ I love ultra-niche personal projects like these. Michael has recreated Gap’s in-store playlists from the ‘90s and early 2000s. You can see scans of the playlist sheets here and listen on Spotify.

☼ The Light Phone 3. I own this now and it's replacing my iPhone on evenings and weekends, for now. I'm more excited about what it doesn't have than what it does. It doesn't have email, a single social media app, or a browser. It does have a camera, maps, calls and music. It actually felt good to dig for mp3s again to fill this thing up with music.

Club Poolsuite - Members' Area

An additional 20 extra hot links from the Poolsuite members' cabana...