This time last year I wrote a festive gift guide, dedicating design objects to each wonderful member of Architecture Media’s editorial team. For the most part, my colleagues lavished praise and gratitude on me for gifting them hotel stays and table lamps and expensive ceramics with my imaginary and infinite Christmas budget. But not everyone was happy. This hurt me and I haven’t slept since. This year, however, I have no doubt in my mind that everyone will love what I’ve gifted them.
Henry Wilson champagne bucket
An exquisite solid aluminium champagne bucket by Henry Wilson… I mean, if this isn’t getting me brownie points with my boss and Architecture Media’s editorial director Katelin Butler, I don’t know what will. I hope KB uses it for chilling her favourite bottle of bubbles (usually a 2025 bottle of Yellow Tail or Whispers), displaying big flowers or as a very heavy and inconvenient helmet. Cheers!
Bloom mirror by denHolm and Sally Caroline
Georgia Birks is our Design Speaks curator and Architecture Australia’s associate editor. If you know Georgia, you’ll know she’s absolutely gorgeous inside and out … which is incredibly irritating for me as the second most stunning Architecture Media staff member. So, not that she needs it, but I am gifting Georgia one of the fantastic sculpted limestone mirrors designed by denHolm and Sally Caroline from their collection titled “You’re Beautiful, Yes You” (which I say in a more annoyed tone rather than an admiring one). The Bloom mirror from the collection combines cloud-like motifs with floral diamond-shaped embellishments and is elegant and charming, just like Georgia. Ugh.
David Hicks x Apaiser bath
David Hicks has collaborated with Apaiser to create a collection of bathware inspired by Louis XIV who ruled over France in the late 17th century and resided at the Palace of Versaille. Alexa Kempton, editor of Houses magazine, is a big believer in what Louis XIV stood for: absolute royal power, control over nobility and building powerful armies, so this opulent all-marble bathtub with its curved edges and subtle flourishes seems perfect for Alexa after a long day of warfare. At close to $9000 RRP, this is one of the most expensive presents on my gift list, so I’d say Alexa and her children are indebted to me for life now. Just how Louis XIV would have liked it.
Esperia Meteorite wall light
What do you buy Emily Wong, editor of Landscape Architecture Australia and easily in the top 4% of the coolest (and mysterious) people I know? I have settled on this Meteorite wall light by Esperia and available from Bloomingdales Lighting, which has been hand-cast in brass from an original design by Angelo Brotto and plated in a pale gold finish. Was it cast from a real meteorite? We’ll never know. It’s a real one of a kind – just like our Emily.
Cavetto totem lamp
It’s my personal tradition to gift Lucia Amies, associate editor of ArchitectureAu, something “architecturally ceramic” as we’re both ceramicists on temporary hiatus. The Cavetto totem lamp, available from Oigall Projects, is the result of a collaboration between Melbourne artist-designer Jordan Fleming and architect Rosanna Ceravolo, where the architectural cornice, that most familiar of interior gestures, has been reimagined as a piece of lighting. Two metres tall and made from four separate sections, the lamp is utilitarian yet poetic and a standout piece for Lucia’s house.
Building Regulations 2018 Manual
Jack Vening, Architecture Media’s managing editor, was, to my surprise, unhappy with what I gifted him last year – a thoughtful and timeless subscription to Architecture Australia, the magazine he works on each day. So I felt a lot of pressure to make amends this year and gift him something he’ll actually use. But what? Jack is about to embark on a big home renovation and so there are so many fun gift possibilities! And so, after much thought and reflection, I am gifting Jack a copy of the Building Regulations 2018 Manual so that he can read up on building permits and other fun stuff like Class 10b structures. Useful! I feel a little guilty as the manual is only 416 pages long and it feels like he’s getting ripped off compared to say Alexa’s $9000 tub. So in order to make things fair and equal, I am also throwing in version 7 of the Plumbing Regulations 2018 Manual. You’re welcome, Jack!
Nyangga blanket from Ngaarlu
Your turn Adair Winder, ArchitectureAu associate editor. This limited edition tapestry blanket features the artwork of Gumbaynggirr and Bundjalung artist Otis Hope Carey and a poem translated into Gumbaynggirr by Clark Webb. It’s a stunning piece, designed in Australia and made in North Carolina and is made to be worn, hung or, as might be Adair’s case, snuggled with alongside her new puppy, Murphy.
Merry Christmas, ed team. Love your work.
Source: Architecture - architectureau
