Bad news: your list of giftees keeps growing. But don’t make things worse by, you know, going to a mall. That way lies madness. Below, some ideas to keep things local, online or, better yet, both.
Fun fact: this local stationer custom-prints heavy-stock coasters on a 100-year-old letterpress machine named Gertrude. And being that Gertrude is the easygoing sort, you can order up whatever monogram, pithy saying or motif (may we suggest the penny-farthing bicycle) you’d like. Your giftee will thank you. So will his coffee table.
Straight out of Nashville: forgettable football, unforgettable neckwear. These wool ties are 100% hand-sewn in Music City for Mutiny DC, the carefully curated shop that’s been popping up around town before taking their operation online last week. Fake country accent not included.
Sometime this month, you may have to stuff a stocking. Chocolate is never a bad start. Especially a chocolate bar stuffed with BBQ potato chips. Or beef jerky. Or New Orleans chili peppers. Just don’t hang the stocking over a working fireplace.
No, these handmade Kindle, Nook and iPad covers won’t turn your giftee’s ones and zeroes into typeface on paper. But they will make it look that way. Right now, she’s got plenty of repurposed Hardy Boys and Nancy Drew books in stock, but she’ll take custom orders, too. May we suggest Encyclopedia Brown.
Knives. Motorcycles. Zombie-ish-looking women. All in the service of rock and roll. Maryland-based designer El Jefe designs concert posters for local shows (the Gaslight Anthem, the Raveonettes, M. Ward) with an old-school comic book sensibility. The good guys always win.
