The name Better Objects sets up a question we have to answer every time we design something: what makes it better? Not better than the competition. Better than the thing it replaces.
We have a specific answer. It has five parts.
1. It Does the Same Job
A better object does the same job as the thing it replaces. This sounds obvious, but it rules out a large category of sustainable products that ask you to accept a performance trade-off in exchange for the sustainability benefit. We do not accept that trade-off as a design constraint.
LastSwab cleans in the same way a cotton swab does. LastRound removes makeup in the same way a cotton pad does. LastTissue works the same way as a paper tissue. The performance must be equivalent; the sustainability benefit is additive, not compensatory.
Related reading
2. It Lasts
A better object is designed to last. Not to be replaced next season, not to wear out in six months. The design decisions — material choice, structural integrity, care requirements — are made in service of longevity.
LastSwab lasts approximately 1,000 uses. LastRound approximately 1,750 uses. LastTissue has been used for years in our team's bathrooms with no degradation. These are not aspirational numbers — they are what the materials and construction actually deliver with normal use and correct care.
3. It Is Familiar Enough to Be Used
A better object keeps enough of the form and behaviour of the thing it replaces that adoption requires no learning. The user picks it up and already knows how to use it.
This is a behavioural design principle, not an aesthetic one. Familiar products get used. Products that require new techniques or new habits compete with established ones and often lose. The best sustainable product is the one that gets used instead of the disposable — not the one that sits in a drawer because it felt too different.
4. It Has Low Friction
A better object requires the minimum additional effort compared to the disposable it replaces. For a reusable swab, the additional effort is a three-second rinse. For reusable makeup pads, it is adding a mesh bag to the laundry once a week. For reusable tissues, it is a wash cycle every few days.
Any additional effort beyond this — special cleaning products, complex drying requirements, storage conditions — reduces adoption. The friction of the reusable option has to be low enough that it is not noticed as friction.
5. It Is Worth Keeping
A better object is one you want to keep rather than discard. Not because it is precious or expensive, but because it is satisfying to use and well-made enough to last. The case matters. The colour options matter. The way it sits on a counter matters.
An object that is worth keeping gets kept. An object that gets kept gets used. An object that gets used instead of the disposable version is doing its job. That is the chain we are designing for.
What a Better Object Is Not
It is not a product defined primarily by what it avoids. We do not design things by listing what they do not contain or what they are not made from. We design things by starting with function and working outward from there.
It is not a product that asks you to compromise. If the reusable version is noticeably worse than the disposable in some meaningful way, it is not ready.
It is not a product defined by its sustainability story. The sustainability comes from the design — from durability, from reusability, from replacing thousands of disposables with one durable object. We tell that story because it is true, not because it is the reason for the product's existence. The reason for the product's existence is that it does its job better.
Frequently Asked Questions
What makes a product a "better object"?
A better object performs the same job as the thing it replaces, lasts significantly longer, is familiar enough to require no learning, adds minimal friction to the user's routine, and is satisfying enough to keep and use daily.
Why does Better Objects focus on small everyday products?
High-frequency use is where daily disposable waste accumulates. One cotton swab is meaningless; 365 per year for a lifetime of use is significant. Redesigning the highest-frequency daily items — the things used and discarded every single day — is where reusable design has the most leverage.
How does Better Objects decide what to design next?
We ask: which everyday objects are single-use by convention rather than necessity? Where is the disposable model applied to something that does not require it? The answer is usually objects so ordinary they have become invisible — which is exactly the kind of object we are interested in.
Better Objects — everyday objects, redesigned to last.