Summers out east are occasions — borrowing a guest room, dinner parties, wedding weekends — each asking the same question: what do you bring? Here are our answers.
For the Borrowed Guest Room
Thank You Gifts for a Summer Stay
How do you say “thank you for having me this summer, and please have me again next summer”? We think vibrantly. The choice between our Bulb Vases and our Tube Top Vases is difficult, so why not both? Hand-blown bud vases leave a compact impression on windowsills, nightstands, and shelves immemorial.
For the Dinner Party
Hostess Gifts That Outlast the Evening
Forget needing to know about wine and bring an accoutrement that outlasts the evening. Our Birdie Wine Decanter, in hand-blown glass, aerates wine as you pour. It rests on an ash wood trivet, and the aerator lifts out onto its own metal coaster for easy serving.
Or browse the rest of our hostess gifts — each more memorable than another bottle.
For the New House
Housewarming Gifts Used Daily, First Things First
A new house asks for objects that are used daily, first-things-first. Our Marble Key Bowl gives the entry table its first ritual (somewhere for the keys to land), and our Ceramic Umbrella Stand solves the problem every new homeowner discovers on their first rainy weekend.
For the Summer Wedding
Wedding Gifts Beyond the Registry
Skip the registry. The Polo rectangular trays are theirs to have and to hold (sideboards, credenzas, and such), and for the pair furnishing a first home together, the WhyKnot bench is the gift that ties the knot.
For a Cancer, Leo, or Virgo Birthday
Birthday Gifts for Summer Signs
Summer birthdays deserve summer objects. The Tucker seed bell hangs outdoors and rings when the wind picks up — celestial enough for any sign: a hand-painted sun for Leos, a crescent for moody Cancers, and impeccable craftsmanship for the Virgos, who will check. And for the friend whose shelves are their personality, the black leather bookboxes keep secrets beautifully.
For Someone One-of-a-Kind
Robbie Heidinger’s One-of-a-Kind Vessels
Summer feels short, so we spend it indulgently: delighting in our friends, the weather, the promise of the next one. But how to mark a particularly beautiful season? We find Robbie Heidinger’s vessels answer best: beauty in form and gesture, touchable, abstract — life held in stasis, season to season, artfully made.
Just Because
Gifts That Answer No Occasion at All
The best gifts answer no occasion at all. A set of hand-glazed ceramic coasters (cork-backed, in colors from pale pink to black) is the brought-you-this-from-town made perfect. Or the stacked planter in pink, on sale for the friend whose windowsill deserves better.
