What makes a purchase “worth it”? The answer is different for everybody, so we’re asking some of the coolest, most shopping-savvy people we know—from small-business owners to designers, artists, and actors—to tell us the story behind one of their most prized possessions.
Who?
Even before starring on the fourth season of Netflix’s wonderfully bingeable reality show The Circle, Yu Ling Wu’s social media prowess had already attracted plenty of attention. The marketing consultant has accumulated over 200,000 followers on Instagram with her daring makeup looks, imaginative outfits, and ultra-personal Brooklyn apartment. Both in fashion and interiors choices, her Y2K-leaning style embraces loud colors and a down-to-earth but still totally confident sense of humor.
What, where and when?
Yu Ling wanted a bookshelf, but she didn’t want just any bookshelf. In fact she had a rather distinct idea in mind: a colorful, shapely bookshelf that was a talking piece all on its own—but that could still readily house her most favorite trinkets. All of the options she found that were within her price range felt too boring for her playful Brooklyn space, and the designer pieces she adored were way out of budget. As fate would have it, Yu Ling found out that her friend’s boyfriend, furniture designer Ernesto Arias, was down to collaborate on a custom shelf that would fit her budget.
“It was about a half-year process in which Ernesto made these shapes by hand, literally using whatever scrap wood he had and he would just send me updates every once in a while,” she recalls. “He’s never done a project like this before, and I had a baby budget. It wasn’t anything fancy, but he loved the idea so much. I spent seven days picking the colors. I had mocked it up on Photoshop, but really wanted something that was both colorful and rainbow, but not where you would look at it and be like, ‘Oh, that’s a rainbow.’”