Five joyful objects for high summer, from sandals to sunglasses

A carafe shaped like a pill and ping-pong paddles you can hang on a wall. Here are five things from Malika Favre and George Wu's bazaar that we'd happily blow the summer budget on.

Written By: Katy Cowan

23 July 2026

Three pleated fabric hand fans in contrasting colour combinations of blue and white, green and orange, and pink and green arranged on a white surface

You weren't looking for a hand fan. You have looked in your kitchen shelves and thought, "What this place needs is a pill-shaped water carafe". And yet five browser tabs open later, and we're mentally rearranging our counters that were perfectly fine yesterday.

That's the trouble – sorry, the joy – of I Can't Afford This But Maybe She Can, the bazaar built by Malika Favre and George Wu. It started in 2020 as an Instagram account featuring beautiful things the pair couldn't quite justify buying, and has become one of the most beloved design communities. Today, it's an actual shop: 500+ objects from 125+ independent makers, each handpicked.

The route there was refreshingly natural. The pair simply asked their followers whether they wanted a shop, and most said yes. They then spent six months personally emailing every brand and maker they followed. There was no marketing team or PR push – just two people with very good taste, taking their time.

They've just launched their High Summer edit, which includes 45 pieces. For you, we've picked out five.

1. Sylas Sandals by Charlotte Stone

Charlotte Stone's Sylas Sandals (£227) are chunky, criss-cross, and deliberately, gloriously mismatched: one foot in lilac, orange, and lime; the other in pink, yellow, and coral. They're totally uncoordinated, yet you can imagine pairing them with any outfit. After a decade of beige footwear, it feels quite the rebellion. Yes, they're an investment. Yes, you'll wince when you wear them, worried about scuffing the straps. But life is too short to worry about these sorts of things. And more importantly, no one at the summer BBQ will have the same pair.

Feet wearing colourful sandals with pink, yellow, green and orange straps and buckles against a lilac background, styled with a red dress hem

2. Paddles by Supersmash

Ah, summers in France as a kid. There was always a table tennis table to enjoy. Which means ping-pong is proper nostalgic for me. So I had to include Supersmash in this roundup. The brand takes the classic paddle (from £55) – a seemingly ordinary object – and hands it over to artists and designers as a canvas. Each pair is a limited edition. You can hang them on a wall like art, or you can actually play with them, which is even better. Part sport, part exhibition, and the dilemma will become: should you now invest in that ping-pong table, too?

Three decorative ping pong paddles with wooden handles in different designs: black and white abstract, yellow with black circle, and pink with black stripes, displayed on wooden blocks with a grey stone and white spheres

3. Happī Pill Carafe & Cup by Mahō Sensory

Mahō Sensory's Happī Pill Carafe & Cup (£52) is a borosilicate glass carafe shaped like a capsule, with a cup that sits on top and stacks back down into a single sculptural form when you're done. It comes in green, blue, pink and amber. It makes drinking water feel like a treat, which is a low bar the rest of the glassware industry has somehow failed to clear. Beautiful design for a daily necessity? Sold.

Colourful glass vessels including a green pill-shaped carafe, a blue bottle-shaped vessel and a yellow rounded container against a pale background

Two glass vessels with blue-tinted lower halves against a yellow and cream background, casting shadows on a white surface

4. Modular Sunglasses by Hey and Kaleos

Barcelona's Hey Studio joined forces with eyewear brand Kaleos on a pair of modular sunglasses (£385) built around one very good idea: a single metal frame with interchangeable high-density acetate inserts. Swap the parts, and you instantly change the mood. The team claim there are 1,296 possible combinations, which will keep most fussy creatives happy for a lifetime. (We're choosing to be optimistic.) Anyway, I tried these on in Barcelona at OFFF earlier this year. I met some of the team at Hey, and they gave me the backstory. I can confirm they're worth the price tag.

White and red round sunglasses with dark lenses displayed next to a white storage case containing colourful interchangeable nose bridges and arms

Person wearing colourful round sunglasses with red, yellow, blue and clear segmented frames and dark circular lenses

5. Double Rainbow Fans by Yvonne Hung

Finally, designer Yvonne Hung's Double Rainbow Fans for Otelier (£30), the most affordable thing here and possibly the most moving. Hung grew up watching her grandmother carry bamboo fans through Hong Kong's sweltering summers, and she's revisited that centuries-old object as an arc of blocked colour.

Practical in a heatwave or hot flush, and lovely on a wall the rest of the year. According to Malika, they're "flying off the shelves". I'll have one in every colour, please. Yes, really.

So there you have it. Five non-essential, beautiful things for summer. All of them made by someone who cared about product design. Consider yourself warned, though. Money will be spent.