Looking for design-inclined inspiration for your gift-giving this season? We’ve got Bauhaus-inspired stocking fillers and experimental printers, fantasy architecture and sculptural home furniture for various tastes – and budgets.
Bauhaus-inspired Correspondence Set
€ 29.95 | $ 38.99
Even in the digital age, You can’t beat the thrill of receiving a handwritten letter or card. This correspondence set is inspired by the Bauhaus, featuring colourful geometric designs that riff on famous designs by the likes of Gunta Stölzl, Anni Albers, and Marli Ehrman. Materials are FSC-certified, with each box containing 40 sheets of A5 writing paper (in four different designs), 20 matching envelopes, eight greeting cards and 25 assorted stickers and labels for personalising your creation.
Bambu Lab’s A1 Mini 3D printer
€489.00
3D printing has come a long way since the early 2000s, and now there’s a wealth of at-home 3D printers, so much so that it can be hard to choose among them. For price point and quality, Bambu Lab’s A1 Mini 3D printer is a great plug-n-play desktop option that won’t break the bank and can print fun projects such as logos, wall hangings and even lamps – or even tree ornaments. It has four colour printing capabilities with AMS lite, full auto-calibration, high-speed precision, active motor noise cancelling (producing under 48 dB of noise in silent mode) and built-in vibration and active flow rate compensation.
‘Brick’ candleholder by Hay
$30-$75
Small but elegant, Hay’s ‘Mattone’ range of square candleholders are crafted in solid stoneware and come in a number of semi-transparent glazed colour options. Mattone means ‘brick’ in Italian, and the candle holder comes in single and multiple options, with four symmetrically placed holes. They look great alone or clustered in groups.
‘Living in a Dream’ by Gestalten
€40
AI-generated images have become a contentious issue in recent years as it becomes harder and harder to distinguish real from fake. But architects and designers have long used tech and their imaginations to visualise future projects, and as AI tools have become more sophisticated, so has artificial architecture. This coffee table book, written and published by Gestalten, delves into the realm of fantasy architecture at its most magical, from utopian skyscrapers to dreamy beach houses and whimsical interiors.
Gae Aulenti Mini Pipistrello Pop Lamp
£708
It’s been 12 years since eminent post-war Italian designer and architect Gae Aulenti died, but her innovative designs continue to have a cult following. We’re honing in on her seminal 1965 Pipistrello lighting series, manufactured in collaboration with Martinelli Luce. Meaning ‘bat’ in Italian and inspired by the organic forms of this flying mammal, the Mini Pipistrello Pop features a wing-like methacrylate lampshade and yellow steel base, contrasted by black details. It’s among her most iconic and collectable designs. This 2023 reissue is numbered and engraved with her signature.
Assouline Book Stand
$111
X marks the spot for the best books in the house.
Assouline is one of the premier luxury coffee-table book publishers in the world, and where better to store their beautiful tomes than on a custom-designed book stand designed by Alex Assouline. The X-shaped book stand holds up to 15kg and is available in five colours – our favourite is solid yellow. While you’re at it, you might as well stock it with some of the publisher’s latest titles – perhaps their homage to Palm Springs or a 200-year deep dive into the history of NYC’s Fifth Avenue.
Sabine Marcelis’s doughnut-shaped Boa Pouf for Hem
€1859
Cult Swedish home brand Hem teamed up with Dutch designer Sabine Marcelis on the sculptural, doughnut-shaped Boa Pouf, whose monolithic design features a shape-knit textile upholstery with zero visible seams or ridges. The foam-filled seat is great for perching, propping and lounging and doubles as chunky sculptural decor when not in use. It comes in four original shades – cotton candy pink, sulphuric yellow, oatmeal and pine forest green, and the line has been extended to several made-to-order, graded-in textiles in an organic colour scheme.
Eames playing cards
$18
As stocking-fillers go, this pack of Eames-inspired playing cards is a hit. Designed by Art of Play, in close collaboration with the Eames Office, the deck is filled with colourful artworks that pay homage to the timeless designs and sensibilities of Charles and Ray Eames.
Reverb: the book + vinyl collection
£40 / £25
180 Studios and The Vinyl Factory launched the highly acclaimed immersive audio-visual art show Reverb this summer, with tens and tens of thousands of visitors passing through the spectacular exhibition over the last few months. To celebrate the milestone exhibition, The Vinyl Factory has published a limited edition, 200-page book with photographs, text and artist interviews about the installations, housed in a beautifully printed softback limited edition with a bespoke dust jacket.
Those who’ve visited will know that part of the exhibition is a Vinyl Record Room designed by Haçienda icon Ben Kelly, which features hundreds of vinyl artworks of records pressed by the Vinyl Factory over the last 20 years. This unique and avant-garde collection is available through the VF store, including classic releases and limited edition presses of sessions recorded live at The Vinyl Factory: Reverb exhibition at 180 Studios.
These live recordings capture rising and established performers at the forefront of music and art and feature interviews, live music recordings and original artworks, with sessions by Matthew Progress, Yohan Kebede, Ragz Originale and Jamilah Barry with Caleb Femi.
1st Dibs holiday collection
It’s easy to spend hours perusing the digital shelves of luxury furniture, art and design e-commerce site 1st Dibs. Still, their staff-edited holiday collection offers a concise snapshot of the best Objets d’art and design on the platform right now. Items range from a handblown Venetian glass vase to a vintage turtle box by Antony Redmile.
