Gift Guide:
The Design Enthusiast
Iconic chairs poster
01
$46
This cool double-sided poster– one side colorful, the other black & white – is signed & hand embossed by the artist. With overlapping iconic chair designs, this print would make a great gift for any design enthusiast.
Pen tool enamel pin by Studio Cult
02
$16
THE MF-ING PEN TOOL. Promise you the designer in your life has strong feelings about this lil guy. The pin itself is super clever with the hanging chain – designers will get it. This would be perfect for a graduating designer or to congratulate someone on a new design job. Really Studio Cult has tons of great enamel pins for designers – check them all out.
Swanky oil & vinegar vessel by Arnout Visser
03
$37
This glass vessel has a slick design wherein both oil & vinegar are kept in the same container: the heavier vinegar is poured from the bottom and the lighter oil from an upper spout. It makes for a unique gift that someone who appreciates good design can proudly display on their kitchen counter or table.
A piece of Debbie Carlos smokeware
04
$29-75
These pipes are so contemporary chic – perfect for someone who both appreciates good design & some 420 relaxation. Plus, these double as objets d’art for a cool living room or bedroom. Personal favorite is the Curl Pipe, but a minimalist would love the Cob, Colonne, or Geta, and you just know a René Magritte fan would appreciate It’s a Pipe for its “this is not a pipe” vibes.
Concrete cufflinks or earrings
05
$102 for cufflinks or $44 for earrings
“Form, light and shadow are the quintessential elements of a space that deepen our perception of its boundaries. Together they come as one to form these micro concrete pieces that we call Elements to celebrate spatial memories forged in time. Each piece of the Elements collection is an individually complete form and are conceived to be a set of earrings that can accompany you in your most formal gatherings. These make excellent conversation starters and will evoke many a fond memories and intrigue one's imagination.” – mim studio
Taxonomy of Typography poster
08
$30
“Justify your love for letters with this taxonomical treatise on typography! A capital guide to the punctilios and profiles of typesetting, this print examines the essential elements of, well, print! Presented in a compartmentalised type case recalling 18th century letterpress, this movable feast scrutinizes everything from type variety (Gothic, serif, sans serif) to letter anatomy (apertures, diphthongs) to spacing (kerning, leading)—a quaint encomium to the odds and ends of printed language.” – Northlight
Get it from Yard Gallery, Art Wisher, or Northlight.
Minimalism or Bauhaus notebook set
11
$12 each
Get the Mimimalist or Bauhaus set from The School of Life.
A camera lamp by Atelier Monsieur Lumière
12
$223-669
Perfect for someone who loves photography, these beautifully designed lamps make an awesome gift. The exact models in stock rotate fairly regularly based on availability and range in prices.
Get one directly from Atelier Monsieur Lumière online or through Fancy online.
Literally anything from Peleg Design
13
$varies
Some of our favorites are YolkFish / YolkPig / YolkFrog, Egguins, Care-it, Mr. Razor, Lemoniere, Hippomark, Zesty, and Himalaya.
Cityscape ring by Shekhtwoman
15
$105-129+
Etsy seller Shekhtwoman makes these really cool city skyline rings that can be 3D printed in gold, platinum, or silver. Get one of these for someone who appreciates architecture, unique jewelry, or a particular city. Bonus points if you have memories in a particular city with them. Current shop offerings have rings for more than 20 cities, but based on shop ratings, the artisan is probably willing to make a custom option.
Books
Designs of our Time: 10 Years of Designs of the Year by the Design Museum
16
$30
Black: Architecture in Monochrome by Phaidon Press
17
$18
Designers fucking love black, trust me. This book is like porn for design & architecture lovers – black on black + stunning, epic lines? Yes, please.
Here’s how Design Museum Shop describes it: “A stunning journey through the world's most dramatic and inspiring black architecture - now in a cool, compact new format. In this sleek, stylish and easy-to-use new size, this book highlights the exquisite elegance of black in the built world through more than 150 structures. From ancient churches to contemporary skyscrapers, Black demonstrates how hues from ebony to onyx have been beloved by architects for centuries. Insightful texts paired with striking photography bring to life these captivating buildings including works by Mies van der Rohe, Philip Johnson, David Adjaye, Jean Nouvel, Peter Marino, and Steven Holl.”
Chair: 500 Designs That Matter by Phaidon Press
18
$25
“The most compelling collection ever of the world's most innovative, stylish, and influential chairs. Throughout history, the chair has presented designers the world over with infinite opportunities to experiment with new methods and materials within the set parameters of an object that is primarily there to serve a practical purpose. Chair: 500 Designs that Matter celebrates the humble chair as never before, from early examples to today's cutting-edge creations. It invites you to sit back and be taken on a journey through the creative imaginations of hundreds of internationally renowned designers.” – Phaidon Press
Patterns: Inside the Design Library by Peter Koepke
19
$80
“An insider's guide to the world's largest archive of patterns and textiles, the source of inspiration for the globe's top designers. Every season, designers from fashion, home furnishings, textiles, graphic arts, and paper-product industries seek inspiration from patterns to bring their collections to life. Many of these designers - including Beacon Hill, Boden, Calvin Klein, Clinique, Colefax & Fowler, Lululemon, Nike, Oscar de la Renta, Pottery Barn, and Target - look to the Design Library, the world's largest archive of surface design. This one-of-a-kind book, drawn from the Design Library’s archive, is an exclusive and ultimate sourcebook of pattern and ornament.” – Phaidon Press
Women in Design: From Aino Aalto to Eva Zeisel by Charlotte & Clementine Fiell
20
$43
“Women designers have made an immense contribution to our shared material culture and built environment. However, in the narrative of design history, all too often their successes have been overshadowed by the achievements of their male counterparts. Women in Design redresses this balance, celebrating over a century of female creativity and ingenuity within all areas of design, including fashion, textiles, furniture, lighting, product, automotive, industrial, graphic and interactive as well as architecture. Featuring over 100 profiles of pioneering women designers, some who have achieved global recognition such as Ray Eames, Charlotte Perriand and Zaha Hadid, it also introduces the fascinating and often untold stories of lesser-known designers, who have similarly shaped and enriched the story of design” – Design Museum Shop
Flower Colour Guide by Darroch & Michael Putnam
21
$35
“The ultimate colour-by-colour flower reference guide - from New York's pre-eminent floral designers, Putnam and Putnam. Planning a wedding, a dinner, a birthday party, a romantic evening, holiday entertaining, or just arranging flowers for the pleasure of having them, more often than not your creative process begins with thinking about the colour of the flowers that you want. To help you find what you are looking for, Flower Colour Guide is the first reference book to organise flower types by colour, with an emphasis on seasonality and creative colour schemes - and the results are stunning in their sheer variety. What Pantone is to colour, Flower Colour Guide is to flowers. Showcasing 400 flowers at their peak, with stunning photography taken by Putnam & Putnam in their Brooklyn studio, this guide includes an appendix featuring perforated pages, with tips on flower care, notes on how to prepare vessels and a list of suggested colour schemes. A great gift to give, or to have for oneself, the book speaks to the most seasoned flower enthusiasts as well as those just beginning to explore the possibilities of arranging flowers” – Phaidon Press
Phaidon International Design Collection
22
$80 each or $168 for the set of 3
This collection is perfect for people who appreciate various design styles and love international design. Pick one for a beautiful design gift, or go for all 3 for the ultimate collection. Here are the descriptions for the 3 volumes from Phaidon Press:
“1) The Red Thread: Nordic Design: from literature to food, lifestyle to fashion, cinema to architecture, Nordic influence is evident throughout contemporary culture. The Red Thread: Nordic Design celebrates this deep-rooted aesthetic, showcasing the diversity of design from Scandinavia and Finland via more than 200 objects - from everyday items to exquisitely produced decorative glassware, and from traditional handmade textiles to mass-produced products found in homes across the globe.
2) Sar: The Essence of Indian Design: the Indian subcontinent is an amalgamation of peoples, cultures, languages and philosophies. Throughout history Indian culture has been subject to myriad different influences, from the Mughal empire to the British Raj to the now globalized nation in transition. Similar to Wa: Essence of Japanese Design, this book will trace continuity through the history of Indian design from antiquity to the present day. The book explores the elements that make Indian design so special, including the varied manufacturing and decorating techniques of the country’s incredibly skilled craftsmen, highly specialized object designs that have been refined over centuries, and ongoing responses to nature, technology, and necessity.
& 3) WA: The Essence of Japanese Design: through some 300 objects this book explores contemporary Japanese design: from everyday objects and packaging to interior design and lighting elements. Ultimately the book aims to explore the way in which Japanese design manages to harness its materials – whether natural or synthetic – and at the same time combines respect for tradition with forward-thinking and experimentation.”
Get one, two, or three, or the set of all three from Phaidon Press online.