I've been to Utrecht. Struck me as kind of a sleepy, lace-curtains-in-the-window kind of town. But it does have an edgy design streak in it somewhere, I guess. Studio Ditte is a design agency in Utrecht that created a collection of objects called Sampling China. There's a rocking sedan chair, which is awesome, but what caught my eye were the plush Chinese characters. Very auspicious indeed.

There are small ones for woman, child, heaven--and older brother, all very simple characters without a lot of criss-crossing in the center. For larger pillows, though, they do throw in the moon, which is nice. The upside of such a narrow selection: the chances of embarassment from picking a "wrong" character are basically nil. I have no idea of pricing or availability, but these things'd be a helluvalot easier to ship than a sedan chair.

Character Toys & Pillows [studioditte.nl via bloesem]