Lordy, it’s holiday-shopping season again! What on earth should you buy for the color-fans on your list? Glad you asked, my rainbow-mavens. Below are some gift suggestions for your use and delectation:
Let’s start with the season’s juiciest books. Chromatic: The Crossroads of Color and Music is a positively kick-ass visual exploration of various ways music intersects with color. It’s smart, beautifully rendered, and wholly inventive – a smashing color gift. This Imprint interview with the co-authors will further whet your appetite, too.
Another fresh title for your color shelf: Listomania: A World of Fascinating Facts in Graphic Detail gathers some off-the-wall infographics rendered with exceptional skill. I highlight this bad boy for one infographic in particular, 10 Colors That Faded Away (below). Check out more sample graphics at Boing Boing.
I’m kind of a sucker for color-changing products of all stripes. This Squidarella Color-Changing Umbrella makes a nice case-in-point: it explodes in brilliant colors only when soaking wet.
What holiday wish-list would be complete without an impossibly lovely, unattainable item? This archival 1970s Pantone quilted bomber jacket is already sold on Fruition Las Vegas, but no matter. Visit them anyhow and troll through the current crop of gorgeous stuff on offer there.
Now something for the CMYK fans: how about an actually embroidered CMYK poster? Evelin Kasikov stitched this for the Digital Soirée event at The Central Saint Martins Innovation Business Centre, London, in January 2011. Even if you missed that gathering, hit Evelin up with sweet, wheedling email requests for a duplicate of your own. This poster has true staying power.
Stocking-stuffers! Often the best gifts come in tiny packages – and when you’re talking color, innovative crayon shapes always make for a fun gift. These upcycled crayons shaped like egg-kittens from Etsy are a personal fave. And those mustache-shaped crayons had me laughing out loud.
Stepping outside the color-continuum for a second, I’ll close with two more gifts crafted by color-fans and personal buddies of mine. Fellow color-fan James Hirschfield just recorded a solo album of trombone music, Two Medicine, that’ll knock you flat – because that kid has a dastardly talented set of pipes on him.
Richard Upchurch’s Wooden Voice Recorder (above) operates on a beautifully simple premise: press the black button to record, the red button to play back, and go deliriously nutso with the dialing knob to adjust pitch and playback speed.
Happy hunting!
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