Crazed for patterns? Short on holiday-shopping ideas? We got you covered! Below we’ve gathered fantastic gift ideas for anyone whose eyes sparkle at the notion of a kicky pattern design.
Start with Fido. A sharp dog counts as a clever fashion accessory (even as his value well transcends that role). Why not outfit your dog with some hilariously dapper accessories of his own? To that end I give you Harry Barker’s gift buckets of patterned dog play-balls, also available in fashionista leopard-print:
Baby, it’s cold outside and your dog’s noticed as much as you have. I love this witty argyle dog-sweater by Dusen Dusen for Of a Kind:
As you’re strolling down the avenues, seeing and being seen, flash an ankle clad in these dapper Ballonet “poker” socks via Fab.com. I just loaded up for my dude this Christmas (shh).
In this dandy-sartorial vein, a smart stocking stuffing is The Devil’s Cloth by Michel Pastoureau, offering a concise, well-researched exploration of what stripes mean across various cultures and contexts. Pattern-fans and cultural-history nerds will love this.
For us ladeez, I am salivating over this clever new edition of patterned stockings designed by our UK pals Patternity for Pretty Polly and soon available in a myriad of nicer shops worldwide.
For the doodler, you can’t get a finer or more thoughtful gift than this lovely Grid Notebook by Berlin-based Wednesday Paper Works. The pages within mirror the grid pattern without, framing your thoughts in a light tracery of pattern without ever caging them in:
What are you going to wrap all these goodies in? Ditch the pharmacy-bought paper and invest in some quality wrap already—your gifts and their recipients both richly deserve it. I love this mid-century wrapping set by NormansPrintery, but I’d also advise cruising over to Brit + Co to their guide to the 50 most beautiful wrapping papers ever. You’re guaranteed to find the exactly-right mood for your gifts.
Last but not least, give yourself at least one knockout experience this holiday season. For that you should race over to David Zwirner Gallery to see Infinity Mirrored Room, an installation of 75 colored LED bulbs that together make a roving, gorgeous visual carpet of polka dots. (See the New York Times review here.) The show is live through December 21 in Chelsea, so hustle up and enjoy!
Grid Index is the first comprehensive visual lexicon of patterns and grid systems. Based upon years of research, artist and musician Carsten Nicolai has discovered and unlocked the visual code for visual systems into a systematic equation of grids and patterns. The accompanying CD contains all of the grids and patterns featured in the publication from the simplest grids made up entirely of squares to the most complex irregular ones with infinitely unpredictable patterns of growth, as editable vector graphic data files.