"I've never met a woman architect before..." holiday gift list 2019

yes, I had to get it!!!
it's black! (almost)

Yes, a year has gone by and it's time for one of my most recognized and read blogs:

The "I've never met a woman architect before..." Holiday Gift List
2019

And since nobody who gives me gifts reads this, I can go all out and talk about what I really want for the holidays thinking that there are other women architects (or any architect) who also are interested in receiving and giving these items.

And remember that it is always better to give than to receive...

And as people tell me that I am difficult to buy for, this  may be the reason that I receive so little ;)

And always remember that if you aren't sure about what someone wants, Benjamin Franklin(s) is still accepted and adored by most architects.

That and really good coffee.


First up:


This is one of the reasons why i like Jul ie: Scandinavian Christmas, from the people who brought you the Aalto Vase:

glass ball

no explanation needed.

glass ball red

glass ball gray

scale in case you don't use metric

already packed for giving, just add a bow, or not

iitala glass ball


And here's an option for advent calendars or candles: I bought these at the IKEA sale for $1.49, the led lights were actually more at $11.99 for a box of 12.

vinterfest-tealight-holder-set-of-4-house

zippered cross body 

"expressly yours" and "over the top" bag

natural tote

color block tote with strap

tote

color block love letter bag

Suya Designs
These bags are handmade: hand selected remnants, that are hand cut and hand stitched in the United States.  They are beautiful bags, yes i have the "love letter" bag above in all black (of course) but you can select the colors that you want and she will make one for you.

The zipper crossbody is a special "archimom" "woman architect" bag.  And the bigger totes were especially designed for la[tops or tablets and all of the other things that we carry around with us.

If you DM her on Instagram @suyadesigns, mention #architect.

Juno Jones Work Boots:
Typically, I would not put these as a gift but they are basically still developing it and they have a prototype that is a really good work boot for women that doesn't look like a work boot.
juno jones shoes

JUNO JONES KICKSTARTER CAMPAIGN

For anyone who has ever had this ice cream or knows about Natasha Case and her partner Freyer Estreller, then you don't need to know why these two amazing archimoms rock the food industry!!!
Get a gift card online and put it in every stocking!!!  Yes, I own a pair of K-Swiss Coolhaus shoes!!!
COOLHAUS

Women came to the "liberal" or "avant-garde" Bauhaus to become designers and architects but were still directed towards more "feminine" design fields like weaving (textiles) and ceramics.  Designtex has reproduced these textile prints from Gunta Stolzi and Anni Albers to give credit to the women of the Bauhaus by popularizing their work.  I thought that they would make a really nice pillow or table runner or wall print.
designtex.com/bauhaus-project

I used to just use the "double ot" for a lot of sketching, typically I just sketch in pencil but I did try and do the Archinktober this year and made it to day 7 but if you want to save on waste and just refill the ink, old school, use these and if you really want a nice looking ink drawing, use it on Canson Vidalon which is the best thicker vellum transparent paper around, sexy.
koh-i-noor-rapidograph-pens
Canson-Artist-Vidalon-Translucent-

Books:

I like books.  As a child, I read a lot.  Now, as an architect, I feel like I write a lot but I don't read enough, I just look at the pictures I like really visually pleasing photos and drawings and I like to hold a book in my hands.  I  also like going to the bookstore and meeting the author or artist or architect at book signings.  So I give my family and friends books and I try to get them signed by the author and always wrap a book, don't use a gift bag, unless you are wrapping it first and them putting it in a gift bag. If anyone wants to know any of my other hints for giving books as gifts , you can ask below in the comments section :) 

Here are some of the ones that I recommend for this year.

I went to a few conferences this year so my selection is somewhat geared towards who I saw at the  Monterey Design Conference so I am somewhat partial to these architects this year and I really liked what Yvonne Farrell of Grafton Architects had to say here in this video about books and libraries.

Yvonne Farrell reading a quote about books...

Grafton-Architects-Yvonne Farrell & Shelley MacNamara
I saw Yvonne Farrell speak at the MDC and I really enjoyed her words and her work and her amazing sections.  I used to draw sections like that in school and people would always make comments about how they weren't serious enough because there were people using the space in them.  I ignored them but I don't do enough of those anymore and I am going to start doing them again, even if just for my own delight!!!

Neri-Hu-Design-Research-Office
If you ever think that we live in a communist country, please listen to the words of people who live in a communist country.  These two architects are a delight and are not exhibitionists, as they say so themselves.

Work-MacKay-Lyons-Sweetapple-Architects Economy as Ethic
I have to tell you that this is one of those architects and books that I didn't want to be told to like, but when I saw him present at MDC and met him and bought the book, and looked at the book, I was mesmerized because it just is beautiful.  I think his son took a lot if not all of the photos and it is just amazing that these sculptural little elements in the landscape that he speaks so matter of fact about actually exist somewhere i would like to go and live if it wasn't so cold and in another county. but it is really hard to make things like this and he makes it look oh so easy.

Knoll-Modernist-Universe
Florence Knoll passed away recently and this is a book that is a little more recent and maybe a little more into giving credit to her as far as her influence on the Knoll Furniture and Design Empire.

Bauhaus-Women-Perspective
The 100 years of the Bauhaus has passed and now we have this book that is going to tell us the real story about what happened and most of us know the story, because we have lived/are still living it a century later. Women who went to the Bauhaus because they were interested in architecture but were steered towards textiles and ceramics, a preferable and perhaps less competitive subject, but that didn't stop them from their work making history as Bauhaus, they just weren't always acknowledged.

The Design of Childhood: How the Material World Shapes Independent Kids
Alexandra Lange is an architectural critic, well recognized and a regular contributor to Curbed, etc. and I follow her on Twitter and Instagram. I have not read this book yet, however I read the forward and she mentioned a book "Belles on their Toes" that my mother had read and passed it on to me to read as a child so long ago and it truly resonated with me as to how much it might have prepared me for the last 2 1/2 years of my personal and professional life. I asked her if she would sign her book if people sent it to her and she graciously accepted. One can email her about that at  alexandra.lange@gmail.com

brooks-scarpa-ordinary-and-extraordinary-book
I have known Angela Brooks and Lawrence Scarpa for many years and I saw them recently at the MDC and I will have their interviews in my blog in the next few weeks. Here is a book on their ordinary(?) and exraordinary(!) work.

I am trying to put gifts that are under $200 in this gift list so I was hesitant to put anything from Design within Reach, though there are a ton of things that I like (but they are not within my reach at this moment, maybe when i am able to spend long afternoons in the womb chair, is when i will be able to afford it, like when I am 85 and living in it.) But I have looked at this bookcase before (we all need something to put our books on and this looks pretty much like the stacks that you find in most of our houses and offices and home studios) and it is actually quite affordable, though not as affordable as the danish bookshelves that I bought at an estate sale 4/$150 or the IVAR bookshelves we still have 20+ years later...

Story Bookcase

Afteroom is the creation of wife-and-husband design team Chen-Yen Wei and Hung-Ming Chen, born in Taiwan and now living in Sweden. 
Afteroom
"Afteroom has a deceptively simple goal: Create items people won’t discard. Going timeless rather than trendy, the duo aims to produce understated pieces with character. One such design is their Story Bookcase (2017), an update on classic vertical shelving, with a tubular frame that nods to the Bauhaus and clever shelves that can be positioned facing forward or to the sides. “We hope people see it as a quiet, functional sculpture,” says Chen."

And of course if all else fails:
Buy them alcohol
or
Law Estate Wines
I stopped here on the way up to the Monterey Design Conference because I wanted to look at the architecture because one of my friends was working for the architecture firm that designed this winery (more to come in the MDC blogs) and the woman who works here is wonderful and met me at the door with a glass and I could barely hold it and take photographs.

If you wanted to get some wine glasses to go with the wine, you have these IKEA Asa Gray designed extremely affordable SVALKA Wine glasses

Or one of the other gifts from:
"I've never met a woman architect before..." Holiday Gift List 2018
"I've never met a woman architect before..." Holiday Gift List 2017

Happy Holidays!!!

I may occasionally add things to the list...