It’s time for the annual VL Gift Guide and, as before, the focus is on some of the many amazing independent designers whose work we admire. Three Sheets 2 the Wind in Georgetown, KY specializes in simple, almost childlike screenprints on fine linen, including these sweet canvases above, which would be perfect for a kid’s room.
Speaking of kids, Cincinnati-based Happy Bungalow makes a range of simple wooden toys, including farm animal sets, dinosaurs and these awesome robots:
Paper Neighborhood is a set of 21 rubber stamps that enable anyone to recreate the distinct style of Italianate architecture that’s prevalent in Over-the-Rhine, Cincinnati, home to Steam Whistle Letterpress and Design:
Over in Asheville, NC, Element Clay Studio creates gorgeous work inspired by nature. This set of tiny geode bowls is perfect for salt or dipping sauce:
I’m a big fan of the NYC-based studio Klein Reid, especially their collaborations with my design heroine Eva Zeisel, like these graphic screenprints which are available at Room & Board:
We met our Over-the-Rhine neighbor John Dixon, founder of Dixon Branded, via SpringBoard, the business planning course we took last summer. His work is simple but clever, and I really admire the geometry of his Cubist Lamps:
We met the owners of Orange Fuzz at the most recent Crafty Supermarket, and we love their products, from candles to soaps to complete shaving kits packaged in vintage cigar boxes:
I love the throwback aesthetic of the new Cincinnati t-shirt by Oxford-based Wire & Twine. In Cincinnati, you can find their shirts at Park+Vine, MiCA 12/v and Fabricate:
Bethany of Detroit’s Cyberoptix is well-known for her “ties that don’t suck,” which I’ve written about before, and her hew Zug Island & River Rouge tie is a nice homage to the city she now calls home:
San Francisco-based Yorktown Road makes magic happen with hand-dyed linen, and the new collection of brightly striped sling bags is no exception:
Christopher Simmons, author of Just Design and founder of MINE™, designed this awesome Everything Is OK barricade tape:
Columbus-based Cynthia Vardhan creates dainty porcelain wares featuring intricate, hand-applied patterns in pretty candy colors. I really love her new line of garden markers:
Lastly, the limited-edition coloring book/exhibition catalog I designed for the Autocomplete exhibit held at Visionaries & Voices earlier this year is filled with over 80 pages of artwork that can be colored in, with all proceeds benefitting this fantastic nonprofit organization:
For more gift ideas, check out Pinterest, where we’ve assembled suggestions for gardeners, outdoorsy types, cooks, graphic designers, and animal lovers, as well as stocking stuffer ideas. Happy shopping!
Department of Everyday Visualingual 