Christmas Gift Guide 2021 – a designer’s selection
Hopefully Christmas 2021 will be a reunion between you and your loved ones following another difficult year of lock downs and shut borders. This year many of us spent a lot of time at home. Home became our focus. There is a sentiment that suggests that home isn’t a place but a feeling. A feeling of love, comfort, peace, and joy.
Christmas is also about peace and joy and hopefully this year gratitude for the things that we realised were important to us, because we couldn’t have them such as family, friends, and freedom. With freedom comes the joy of travel and experiencing new places and taking a much-earned holiday.
Whatever Christmas means to you I wish it is you enjoy a well earnt break, a reunion with your family or the receipt of lovely presents, perhaps even a reconnection or reinforcement of your faith.
Gift giving is an important part of Christmas and personally I try hard to give very personal and sentimental gifts. They don’t have to be expensive gifts, just something thoughtful or special in some way.
Sometimes we must give a gift to people we don’t know so well, like neighbours or work colleagues. And it makes sense to opt for a generic gift, to play it safe, like chocolates or alcohol. So this year I would like to offer my suggestions for great gifts to give to anyone you know who loves homewares and keeping their home beautiful. Here is my Christmas gift guide for 2021.
French Flax Linen
I love linen. It’s such a luxurious material. It’s natural, organic, and classic. I have specified linen products such as bedding and tableware for a range of clients. My clients have a wide range of interior style preferences and yet linen works.
For a client whose style goal was a bit Mid-Century Modern with a dash of glam, I specified linen bedding. Which provided an earthy appeal and a nice counterbalance to some of the glam elements.
For a client whose style goal was Minimal Scandinavian I also specified linen bedding due to its textural element.
Another client whose style goal was more Contemporary also had linen placemats. It’s such a durable and flexible material and therefore a great gift.
Personally, I like Bed Threads for linen products. They have great bed sets, tablecloths, placements, even garments such as pjs and bathrobes.
Ceramics
Another ideal Christmas gift idea is anything ceramic. I love ceramic homewares. Again, they’re so flexible and versatile. There are beautiful ceramic vases, mugs, plates and so on. This year I discovered Hunter and the Fox.
Hunter and the Fox is Melbourne based and make a range of ceramics from keep cups to pinch pots and heaps more.
They kindly developed a bespoke gift box for me to give to my clients as thank you gifts for their clientele and my clients love this box. Their gifts boxes are full of goodies such as tea and a piece from their own collection.
My clients who receive ceramics from Hunter and the Fox are really impressed with the quality. And I love supporting local artisans so consider a gift box from Hunter and the Fox for someone you know this Christmas.
Books
One thing I don’t like about books used to style spaces is how generic they are. I am tired of seeing the classic big book from Chanel or Tom Ford styled in spaces for glossy magazines.
I think there is something unnatural about the addition of a Chanel book on a coffee table. These two books aside though I love books as a styling tool.
Primarily because books are so personal. They add warmth, colour, texture, and shape when styling your space.
But when gift giving, books present a perfect opportunity to buy something personal. These days there are books for every topic. So even if you don’t know the person you need to buy a gift for very well, you can still find a book they will love.
From non-fiction to fiction, self help, motivational, historical, crafts, biographical and so on. By simply asking a few questions about your gift recipient you will easily find a book for them.
One of the books I received and loved was by the Barefoot Investor. All the interior design books I have received I’m not fussed about but I do use them in my own photoshoots.
My preferred books are non fiction, historical or political, right now I’m reading Troy by Stephen Fry.
Candles
Another gorgeous gift is candles but not from Kmart. I think with candles you do have try to buy a candle that is branded such as Jo Malone, or just expensive and therefore likely to come in a beautiful gift box.
There are so many candles on the market, but we know that not all candles are created equally. Look on Etsy for some interesting candle options. This way you will be supporting a local artisan rather than a big retailer.
But a candle gift doesn’t just have to be a scented candle. Think about plain candles but beautiful candle sticks, or a sculptural candle as well.
If choosing a candle, consider the scent. I’m particularly fussy with scent, I love my lavender but hate vanilla. I think that a citrus scent is a good neutral aroma and perfect for use in a house.
This year give yourself time to find ideal gifts for the people you need to buy a gift for and if you’re really stuck a nice food product always goes down a treat. Consider making something yourself such as almond biscuits or gingerbread biscuits.
If cooking isn’t your thing, there are any local food shops that will have lovely food gift ideas. Make sure you buy Australian made and help support our local economy as much as possible. There are many small businesses who have suffered this year due to COVID so I’m sure they will appreciate and need your support.
I hope this Christmas gift guide was useful for you. And with all my heart, I wish you and your loved ones a Merry Christmas and a new year that is healthy and free.