Culture Carton is a monthly lifestyle box for men. Each month you’ll receive curated lifestyle items and literature to enhance your gentlemanly status.
Culture Carton has three subscription options: Essential (just the lifestyle items for $35 a month), Standard (lifestyle items and book for $45 a month), Book Club (monthly book shipped to you for $16 a month).
This is a review of the $45 a month Culture Carton Standard.
This box was sent to us for review purposes. (Check out the review process post to learn more about how we review boxes).
About Culture Carton
The Subscription Box: Culture Carton
The Cost: $45 a month + US shipping. Save with 3, 6, and 12-month subscriptions.
ACTIVE DEAL: Free shipping on all orders over $100
CODE: FREESHIPPING
The Products: A curated selection of men’s lifestyle items and a book “that belongs on every man’s bookshelf.”
Ships to: US for a varied cost. Shipping to SC is $7.55. International shipping varies.
Culture Carton June 2018 Review
My husband, John, is helping me with this review by testing all of the products and giving me his perspective. I have to keep him away until I snap photos because he always wants to tear open the boxes.
An info card with an introduction to the month’s theme and contents is included. This month’s theme is “The Desktop Box”. The items will spruce up your desktop and make your time spent there better.
Kiko Leather Mouse Pad in Black - Retail Value $28
I spend a lot of time at the computer, so I can appreciate a good mouse pad when I see it. This black, cowhide leather mouse pad is sleek and strong and looks sharp on John’s desk. It doesn’t slip around due to the sueded back and has just a simple logo on it. My only issue is that John used to use a mouse pad with a photo of me. Oh, how I’m easily replaced.
Opinel No 8 Pocket Knife with Walnut Handle - Retail Value $20 (available soon)
I could hardly snap any photos before John swooped in and grabbed this knife up. This walnut wood handle pocket knife is super sharp and light with a safety ring that locks it open or closed and a blade that requires no special upkeep. Its simplicity and elegance make it great for toting in your pocket or keeping at your desk.
Baron Fig Limited Edition Infinity Vanguard Notebooks - Retail Value $12
Baron Fig makes a variety of notebooks that are durable and handy so you can take them anywhere. This set is a special edition “Infinity” trio in their flagship size. The pages are filled with a faint dot-grid, so they could be used for drawing, sketching, or writing. Honestly, I’ll probably end up using these since I tend to jot down notes and sketch out project ideas throughout the day, and they are the perfect size to slip into my laptop bag.
Air Plant Supply Co Abdita Brachycaulos - Retail Value $5.95
Yay for easy plants! John doesn’t have the best track record with plants but this one should suit him nicely. It is already a hearty size and looks healthy even after being stowed in a box during shipping. We found a sentimental shot glass of his and it now resides in it on the window seal. It only needs a soaking once a week and some soft sunlight to be happy. John is responsible for it and, I’m happy to say, it is still kickin’.
A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce - Retail Value $17 (Found here for $11.55)
This month’s book is a classic and this edition is a deluxe edition published for the novel’s centennial. John has this book already but loves this cover so he’ll be donating his old copy and replacing it with this in our living room library. I, however, haven’t read this so I’m excited to experience this book.
Book summary on Amazon:
For the centennial of its original publication, a beautiful Deluxe Edition of one of Joyce’s greatest works—featuring an introduction by Karl Ove Knausgaard, author the New York Times bestselling six-volume autobiographical novel My Struggle, which has been likened to a 21st-century Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man
The first, shortest, and most approachable of James Joyce’s novels, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man portrays the Dublin upbringing of Stephen Dedalus, from his youthful days at Clongowes Wood College to his radical questioning of all convention. In doing so, it provides an oblique self-portrait of the young Joyce himself. At its center lie questions of origin and source, authority and authorship, and the relationship of an artist to his family, culture, and race. Exuberantly inventive in style, the novel subtly and beautifully orchestrates the patterns of quotation and repetition instrumental in its hero’s quest to create his own character, his own language, life, and art: “to forge in the smithy of my soul the uncreated conscience of my race.”
This Penguin Classics Deluxe Edition, published for the novel’s centennial, is the definitive text, authorized by the Joyce estate and collated from all known proofs, manuscripts, and impressions to reflect the author’s original wishes.
The Verdict: Culture Carton has impressed me month after month. The curation and themes have interested John and there hasn’t been too much of one particular thing. Though John has this book already, he’s excited to update it with a new copy with a cool cover. I like the emphasis on sprucing up John’s desk and making it feel like a place he can be productive and stylish. I also like the emphasis on products from small, specialized companies. I’m excited to see what kind of items are included next month!
To Wrap Up:
Can you still get this box if you sign up today? No. Sign up now for the August box.
Orders placed before the 15th of the month will be shipped on 15th-17th of month. all orders placed after the 15th will ship the following month.
Coupon – Use code MYSUB10 to save 10% off your first box!
Value Breakdown: The box costs $52.55 (including shipping) and I received $82.95 in retail value. That means you are spending approximately the following on each item:
- Kiko Mousepad: $17.74
- Pocket Knife: $12.67
- Notebooks: $7.60
- Air Plant: $3.77
- A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man by James Joyce: $10.77
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