We’re a collective of London-based designers and creatives who, quite honestly, spend a lot of time online window shopping.
When we’re not working, we sit discovering artists and illustrators on Instagram, lusting over new cookbook releases and dreaming about dominating international chess tournaments. Today, we’ve decided to put all of this procrastination to good use by turning our wishlist into a gift guide for fellow creatives. Below, we’ve listed a few of the fantastic items we’re fawning over this week. If all of the time we waste on the internet saves you a bit trouble, it’ll be worth it!
London Skyline Chess Set from the National Gallery
Like everybody else in the Western Hemisphere, we spent our Christmas break binging The Queen’s Gambit on Netflix. And yes, we also considered learning how to play chess. We weren’t alone. According to several sources, the show became quite the cultural phenomenon and it led to a surge in sales of chess sets.
Ever since, we’ve had our eyes on this amazing London-themed chess set by The National Gallery (£100). It was inspired by their exhibition, The Credit Suisse: Monet and Architecture. It features 32-pieces inspired by the capital city’s skyline, including Big Ben, the London Eye and the Shard. Isn’t it cool?
Pizza Czar Book by Anthony Falco
A few members of our team have their eye on this cookbook at the moment. We think it’d make a great gift for any foodie, whether they’re a chef-in-training or they just love to dabble in the kitchen at weekends. Plus, you can’t go wrong with Pizza. There aren’t many people in the world who don’t love pizza.
The book contains tips, tricks and hacks discovered by Anthony Falco, a “pizza czar” who has spent years travelling around the globe learning everything there is to know about the delicious dish. Falco hopped from continent to continent discovering secrets and exploring new tastes. He’s been everywhere from the United States to Brazil, Colombia to Kuwait, Panama to Thailand and beyond learning about pizza. He’s distilled all of his knowledge into this 272-page book, deemed an “exhaustive resource for absolutely any pizza cook”. The book is an Editors’ pick on amazon, rated one of their Best Books Of 2021 So Far.
Get it for £15.19 at Amazon.co.uk, or seek it out from your local independent book store.
Don’t Stop Being You Print by Scotty Gillespie
The bright, bold colours and lovely sentiment in this print by Exeter-based artist Scotty Gillespie really appeal to the LDC team. “Don’t Stop Being You” is exactly the message fellow creatives need to see as they set to work. It’ll add a splash of colour to any home office or studio. Find it for just £10 on the designer’s website.
Vintage Tees by Eric Fan
Our team have been coveting the vintage t-shirts at pixels.com. The site sells apparel designed by hundreds of thousands of independent and well-known artists from around the world. Eric Fan’s illustrations caught our attention recently, we like his playful and whimsical style:
Plus, budding artists can upload their own designs to pixels.com to create custom tees! We thought this would make a pretty unique gift too.
The Beacon 320 Bluetooth Speaker by Roberts
This Roberts Bluetooth speaker (£129.99) is another LDC favourite. It marries form with function as it looks aesthetically pleasing and offers a full range of rich, crystal clear sound. This is a great gift idea for any music-lover. The speaker offers up to 12 hours of portable playtime and comes in five statement colours: sunburst yellow, charcoal grey, midnight blue, dusky pink and teal blue.
