A love and appreciation for design starts early. Being surrounded by and interacting with beautiful, well-designed items can have a lasting impression that one carries into adulthood. Here we have selected items that will inspire and tickle the fancy of the creative-types on your holiday list — young and old.
Small Sacco Lounge Chair by Zanotta | From $583
The anatomical easy-chair was designed in 1968 by Piero Gatti, Cesare Paolini and Franco Teodoro. The three friends had been working on an experiment in ergonomics: a flexible chair that would respond to the body’s movements and the result was the instantly popular Sacco. The chair is available in three sizes for indoor and outdoor use.
Who Built That? Books | $25
In the books Who Built That? Modern Houses and Who Built That? Skyscrapers, illustrator Didier Cornille takes readers on fun-filled tours through ten of the most important houses and the worlds tallest buildings. Readers of all ages will delight in these colourful introductions to modern architecture’s most extraordinary homes and buildings and the architects behind them.
The Designer Says Book | $21
The Designer Says, the follow-up to the best-selling The Architect Says, is a compendium of quotations from more than one hundred of history’s leading practitioners. This fun, informative, and portable collection makes the perfect gift for designers, students, and anyone curious about the ideas and personalities that shape the art of visual communication.
B-LIne Boby | $534-$590
Boby is much more than a simple container: it is the trolley storage unit that made design history. Designed by Joe Colombo and launched in 1970, the award-winning Boby provides versatile customized storage capacity, while its casters guarantee full mobility. Functionality and detail are its strong points which, together with an undeniably pop flavour, continue to make it ideal for storage in any room of the home.
Ingo Maurer Blow Me Up Light | $365
Blow Me Up is an inflatable glowing air hose that once blown up, can lean against the wall or fastened to the ceiling or wall with hooks or nylon cords. Designed by Theo Möller, Ingo Maurer, and team, the light comes packaged in an attractive can. Blow Me Up is a lamp for the young and the young at heart, those who embrace mobility and change.
MONUmini Model Kits | $26
MONUmini kits are a collection of iconic architectural models; a perfect gift for an architecture student or any design enthusiast. The kit includes instructions, a short building history, and a sheet of etched stainless steel pieces, which fold and lock together to create the miniature structure. The collection includes Notre Dame, Tower Bridge, Centre Pompidou and more.
One Widow Triple Vision Cards | $20
When designing the Triple Vision Card Deck, the Vancouver-based company One Widow were inspired by childhood memories of ‘nerding out’ over old-school comic books and cereal box promotions that featured 3D art — the kind that required the red and blue paper glasses. Each card in this deck features an original illustration to be enjoyed with the 3D glasses included.