{"id":2825,"date":"2025-09-09T12:02:19","date_gmt":"2025-09-09T12:02:19","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/?p=2825"},"modified":"2025-09-15T12:44:59","modified_gmt":"2025-09-15T12:44:59","slug":"why-this-squeaky-clean-sponge-collection-hasnt-ever-touched-the-dishes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/2025\/09\/09\/why-this-squeaky-clean-sponge-collection-hasnt-ever-touched-the-dishes\/","title":{"rendered":"Why This Squeaky-Clean Sponge Collection Hasn\u2019t Ever Touched the Dishes"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Accessories impresario Calley Benoit Belli explains how she started seeking out the cleaning objects not for chores, but for decorating.<\/p>\n

<\/figure>\n
\n

My obsession with sponges started<\/b> when I moved into my own tiny New York apartment in 2014. I didn\u2019t have roommates for once, so everything in the apartment was there because I chose it. I\u2019m very particular about the curation of objects, even down to dish towels and soaps. So, naturally, that trickled down to sponges.<\/p>\n

In looking for one, I thought, I don\u2019t want just any sponge. I figured there had to be better options than just the green-topped yellow ones. I wanted something unique that would bring me joy and that was more colorful or a little bit unexpected. Then a good friend of mine who grew up in Seoul traveled back to South Korea and got me a colorful crochet sponge. I was like, My God, this is beautiful! It was red with a blue pinwheel shape in the middle. Later, I went there myself and kept an eye out for sponges\u2014I had to get another suitcase because I got so many!<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n

<\/a>
\n

Photo: Stephanie Gonot<\/a><\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

\n

Now, I\u2019ve become the person who likes sponges, and I often get them as gifts. I love how common yet overlooked they are. As the president of lifestyle brand Edie Parker<\/a>, I\u2019m involved in product development, so I\u2019m always thinking about how to make everyday objects visually fun and unique so that, rather than shoving them to the back of a drawer, you want to proudly display and share them.<\/p>\n

When my husband, Ryan, and I got married at our home in Pasadena three years ago, I had to bring out my sponges. They were all in a closet upstairs, so I picked some loved ones and put them in the sponge rack behind our kitchen sink. It was a special milestone, and I thought the things I felt special about should be included, in a way, to create a “me” feeling in our home.<\/p>\n

For my birthday this year, Ryan actually surprised me with a shelf in the living room that he made for my sponge collection. And that\u2019s the thing\u2014sponges don\u2019t have to remind you of a chore; they can be something you just appreciate. They might be functional, but they don\u2019t have to be mundane.<\/p>\n

\u2014<\/p>\n

Head back to the September\/October 2025 issue homepage<\/i><\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Accessories impresario Calley Benoit Belli explains how she started seeking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2825","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-architecture"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2825"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2830,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2825\/revisions\/2830"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2825"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2825"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.unlockhost.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2825"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}