Scanner : holiday gift guide: design

Holiday Gift Guide: Messenger Bag

Wendy Atterberry — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 20:00:00 GMT

If you're an urban dweller, you probably already know the necessities for daily life and getting around: comfortable shoes, good coffee, and a cool messenger bag. Girls can get away with purses for carrying their makeup and money and whatnot, but add a couple books and magazines into the mix for subway reading, and a purse just may not cut it. And guys definitely need a messenger bag. Even if they've got a girlfriend with a purse, I can tell you from personal experience, we do not have any extra room in there for your crap! Get your own bag! Or better yet, ladies, get your man a bag, like this one, which is all masculine raw rugged leather (Amazon, $140) . And guys? Get your lady a pretty bag like this olive green vinyl number with mint stitching (GreenergrassDesign, $68) and maybe, just maybe, she can manage to find room in there for your keys.

Holiday Gift Guide: Skinny Lighter

Wendy Atterberry — Fri, 21 Dec 2007 18:00:00 GMT

Offering someone a light with one of these stylish stick lighters sure beats passing a book of matches or a cheap drugstore childproof lighter. After all, to be banished outside for a smoke is one thing, to be banished without the proper accessories is just embarrassing. A perfect stocking stuffer for your favorite smoker (including the potheads). (Fitzsu, $28)

Holiday Gift Guide: Daily Grind

Wendy Atterberry — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 16:45:00 GMT

Somehow, my gyne and dentist appointments, boring meetings, and interviews for gigs I know I won't get seem a tad more tolerable when I'm scheduling them in a cute planner like this one from poketo ($17), which comes with monthly, weekly, address, list, and blank pages, as well as pockets to store receipts, business cards and the like. A great gift for the person always on the go who needs something with a little more personality than your average planner from Office Max.

Of course, some people prefer to keep track of schedules on a wall calendar. For the modern art lover, this moon phase calendar from the MoMA Design store is hot ($17). How about an award-winner, like this one by Herman Yu, featuring 12 original botanical images (Rare Device, $33), or this beautiful--and popular--handmade calendar from Creative Thursday ($35)?

Holiday Gift Guide: A Little Bling

Wendy Atterberry — Wed, 19 Dec 2007 15:00:00 GMT

So you want to give your girl some jewelry this Christmas but you have no idea where to begin. I'm sure she's probably been dropping 2-ton hits left and right, but you've failed to pick up on them. I get it, it's a guy thing. We start talking about jewelry, cramps, and Brad Pitt and you immediately tune us out. All the more reason to do right by us with some pretty bling. She may not forget about that naked ring finger on her left hand, but these other options are bound to please long enough to buy you a little time: fauna goldfish necklace (Paraphernalia, $17), delicate stainless steel etched rose earrings (Rare Device, $30), flying birds bracelet (I love blocks, $35), silver inlay ebony wood necklace (Broxup Jewelry, $64), colored resin necklace and earrings set (Metals Girl, $84), colorful satellite ring (Anne Kiel Jewelry, $91).

Holiday Gift Guide: Bento Box

Wendy Atterberry — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 22:00:00 GMT

The great thing about these bento boxes is that they magically erase the calories of everything inside. You could theoretically carry a bacon double cheeseburger and a couple of Twix bars in them and your lunch would be completely calorie-free.

Well okay, not really, but the bento box is a much more functional and better looking alternative to a brown bag. And it may not make a lunch calorie-free, but you know it'll make it taste better. Give one to the person on your list who's trying to pack a lunch to work more often--or who'd just like to make all of his co-workers crazy with jealousy. (Plastica, $38)

Holiday Gift Guide: Lucky Beggar Coin Purse

Wendy Atterberry — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 18:00:00 GMT

New Yorkers will recognize the ubiquitous New York City coffee cup design, often seen in the hands of panhandlers on street corners, but reincarnated here as a clever coin purse. I received one recently as a gift and everytime I pull it out, someone has something to say about. I could be wearing awesome boots, or have a great haircut, or totally smell like roses and lavender and fancy perfume, but without fail, my coin purse always upstages me. A perfect gift for the homesick New Yorker. (wishingfish, $29.95)

Holiday Gift Guide: Luxe Link

Wendy Atterberry — Tue, 18 Dec 2007 14:49:00 GMT

Most women I know count their purse collection in the top five things they love in life (I'll leave the other top four to your imagination). They also enjoy going out, but they hate having to rest their purses on the dirty floors of dive bars, crowded clubs, and busy restaurants. That's why this luxe link is such a handy invention--it provides a little hook on which to hang purses, freeing women's minds--and hands--to focus on, ahem, more important matters. (luxe link, $35)

Holiday Gift Guide: Redbird Posters

Wendy Atterberry — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 18:03:00 GMT

If you've gone to any shows in the last few years, or if you've even just gone to a bar...or passed a bar...or if you've left your apartment at all, chances are you've seen one of the many posters on sale at Redbird. Perfect for the indie music lover, the posters feature artists you know and love, like Peter Bjorn & John, Arctic Monkeys, The Shins, Wolf Parade and lots more. Spring for some framing to really class things up. (Each poster about $22)

Holiday Gift Guide: Tivoli Model Satellite Radio

Michael Martin — Mon, 17 Dec 2007 17:00:00 GMT

What says "holidays" more than metallic taupe and cherry wood? Nothing. Well, maybe egg nog. Or Christmas trees. Or Santa. Regardless, I think a beautiful new cherry wood satellite radio is somewhere on that list.

I've enjoyed my Tivoli CD Player for years: the sound is crisp, it connects to pretty much any type of speaker through an auxiliary input, and it looks classy next to the pile of old pizza boxes I have in my living room. Though I've balked from getting a satellite radio (listening to Alicia Keys blare out "No One," fourteen times a day on
Z100 is just fine by me, thank you), I might have to buckle in based on this particular model.

Tivoli makes fabulous products that last a very long time, and this
model is, relatively speaking, not that expensive ($299.99, plus subscription fees). I'm sure they have a holiday-music station on Sirius somewhere that doesn't just play Mariah Carey on a non-stop loop, which would be perfect for my holiday party, as long as I clear out the pizza boxes first. (tivoliaudio.com) — Alexander Zalben

Holiday Gift Guide: 'Hand Job' Typography Book

Michael Martin — Fri, 14 Dec 2007 19:40:00 GMT

We know somebody in your life has a typography fetish. Be bold and give them Hand Job, Michael Perry’s display-worthy collection of graphic design and hand typography, featuring fifty-five artists. Your recipient will be aesthetically impressed, and they’ll refer to you forever as The Person Who Gave Me a Hand Job for Christmas. ($35, fredflare.com) — Gwynne Watkins