“I find oddity really joyful. That, for me, is what makes life feel really sparkly,” Krim said. “I always like bumping into something unexpected, so it makes sense that I put something weird into the world.” 

Krim rotates the machine’s inventories based on the artwork she receives, the items she finds at thrift stores, and which items she believes people would most enjoy at certain locations. The vending machines themselves are each decorated by a local muralist who comes up with a design that compliments the machine’s surrounding environment. For a machine located at the Chicago Cultural Center, artist Molly Anne Bishop painted iconic landmarks from the surrounding Loop neighborhood. 

Krim’s interest in vending machines began as a child when she went on family trips to Japan and became fascinated with the machines located there. As an adult, she connected with the vending machine community and learned about other unconventional vending machine projects, such as an oyster vending machine in France.