The archive · Product Ideas · Product decision · 2026
Blue Star Crafts shrinks a complete watercolor kit into a palm-size pochade box
An architect and a designer in Mexico miniaturize every plein-air tool into a $70 retro pochade box for sketching anywhere.
Blue Star Crafts
What it had to solve
Blue Star Crafts is the two-person studio of Mexico-based architect Federico Alvarado and designer Daniela Ramón, whose stated focus is 'the kind of solutions that make you want to create something every day.' Classic watercolor kits and pochade boxes are built around easel painting, which makes a daily sketch kit bulky; their brief was full capability in a case small enough to carry everywhere.
How it works
Blue Star Crafts is the studio of Mexico-based architect Federico Alvarado and designer Daniela Ramón. Their stated focus is 'the kind of solutions that make you want to create something every day,' and the Retro Mini Pochade Box applies that to watercolor: a handcrafted kit small enough to slip into a pocket.
The trick is that nothing was dropped to make it small. The box contains a trimmed paintbrush, a mini spray bottle, a Blackwing pencil and eraser, a brush-cleaning cloth and 30 watercolor sheets held in place by magnets; removable trays, which appear to be silicone, clip onto the sides and offer nine spots for tube paint. The whole case measures about 1 5/8 by 7/8 by 2 3/8 inches (2.3 × 6 × 4.2 cm) and its lid stays open at any angle.
Form follows that promise of daily use: it reads as a retro miniature of a classic pochade box rather than a high-tech gadget, so carrying a full watercolor kit feels like carrying a treasured vintage object instead of luggage. The studio sells it for $70 in six colors, made to order.
Why it lands
- The constraint is portability, and the answer is miniaturizing every tool rather than offering a smaller subset, so the box replaces a kit instead of adding to one.
- Magnets and clip-on trays solve the small-object problems—sheets stay in place and the palette rides on the side—without bulk or moving parts.
- The retro, handcrafted form gives a utilitarian object desire: at $70 in six colors it is positioned as something you want to carry and show, not merely use.
- The studio's mission statement works as a design filter: every solution is judged by whether it makes someone want to create something every day.
What it did
Core77 ran the box as a 'Curious object' on 1 September 2026, leading with the miniaturized professional tools inside. The studio sells it direct in six colors at $70, made to order, and presents it as the newest addition to its line of solutions that make you want to create something every day.
What you can take
When people do not create daily because the kit is a burden, the design answer can be shrinking the whole ritual, not adding features; a pocket-size tool makes the habit portable.
Since then
As of the September 2026 Core77 feature, the box is made to order with three to four weeks of processing time, sells for $70 in six colors, and is presented on the studio's storefront as its newest mini pochade: the buyer fills the palette spots from watercolor tube paint and re-moistens them with the mini spray bottle on the road. No sales figures or additional press beyond the Core77 write-up appear in the collected material.
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