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Modern Design Gifts at DWR
Give the gift of good design with a thoughtful, well-crafted home gift from DWR. Spanning a wide variety of home categories, from decor to dinnerware to dog accessories, each of the modern design gifts in DWR’s curated collection promises to infuse fresh aesthetic appeal into your loved one’s daily routines. Whether you’re shopping for a housewarming, a birthday, or a holiday, you’re sure to find something unique, thoughtful, and design forward in DWR’s collection.
Need some inspiration? Read on for DWR’s modern design gift guide or check out our already curated collections of gifts for the host, budget-conscious gifts under $250, and ready-to-ship gifts for last-minute occasions.
Gifts for Design Enthusiasts
Coffee Table Art Books
Art books make excellent gifts for those who love design, since as a rule, a design enthusiast can never have too many coffee table books. DWR’s assortment is full of rich, colorful, hardcover coffee table books on art, architecture, interiors, design, photography, and more, published by Phaidon, a premier publisher of books about the visual arts. For those who love good design, consider a book on Dieter Rams; for furniture lovers, go with one on Herman Miller or chair design; for architecture fans, try a book on brutalism or Frank Lloyd Wright; for art lovers, choose a book on African artists or Yoshitomo Nara’s eponymous art book. Browse all of DWR's design books to find something for everyone.
Anything Eames
To a design lover, Eames is not just a household name, it’s the household name. An Eames gift by iconic design duo Charles and Ray Eames is the perfect thing for someone who loves thoughtful and playful design. If your loved one already has a collection of designer home objects, go with something they might not have thought of themselves, like an Eames Hang-It-All. Or start your little design lover’s collection early with an Eames Elephant.
A Calder-Inspired Mobile
Turn your loved one’s living space into a kinetic art gallery with the Ekko Standing Circles Mobile, a precision-crafted mobile sculpture that calls to mind the work of iconic American sculptor Alexander Calder. Decorative yet dynamic, a mobile makes a truly unique home decor gift that can add a calming sense of balance to an office or living space.
Anything Alexander Girard
One of the most iconic textile designers in history, Alexander Girard’s contributions to mid-century modern design include punchy, patterned upholstery textiles, graphic wall art, wooden doll sculptures, and more. His work is featured in museum collections around the world – and with a gift from DWR, can also be featured in your loved one’s home. Give the gift of Girard with a patterned throw pillow or wooden doll by Alexander Girard.
Gifts for Hosts & Housewarmings
At DWR, discover a curated a selection of unique, design-forward gifts that make great housewarming gifts or gifts for hosts, regardless of the occasion. Browse contemporary centerpieces like SIN’s Weylyn Candelabra and Stories of Italy’s blown-glass vases, HAY’s new La Pittura Collection of hand-painted ceramic tableware, candy-like glassware by Helle Mardahl, minimalist wood cutting boards and charcuterie boards, essential napkin sets by Hawkins New York, and Danish table and barware by Georg Jensen.
Gifts for Minimalists
A Minimal Sculpture
Origin Made’s Void Sculptures are unassuming but impeccably crafted sculptural wood pieces that would make striking additions to a minimalist interior. Finished to enhance their natural wood grain texture, and shaped with surfaces for displaying smaller items, the Void Sculptures make great one-of-a-kind standalone pieces or great complements to existing minimalist decor.
Muuto Glassware
Simple, stripped down, and stackable, Muuto’s Corky Glasses make the perfect gift for a minimalist, as they can be used for any drink on any occasion. They’re humble enough for daily use, but also unique and stylish enough for wine, cocktails, or spirits. Pair with a Muuto Corky Carafe for a drinkware set suitable for even the most minimalist of daily rituals.
An Ikebana Vase
For those whose minimalism skews Japandi, a Fritz Hansen Ikebana Vase would make the perfect gift. Ikebana, the traditional Japanese art of floral arrangement, offers one the ability to appreciate flowers and nature in a more thoughtful way. With an ikebana vase, a basic bouquet of flowers can be transformed into a personal work of art. The tasteful simplicity of the Ikebana Vase by iconic Danish design brand Fritz Hansen makes it the perfect gift for a minimalist nature lover.
Gifts Under $250
Quality gifts don’t have to break the bank. At Design Within Reach, shop a collection of high-quality design gifts under $250, including plush throw pillows and blankets, dinnerware, centerpieces, books, and decor from both trendy and iconic brands and designers.
Gifts for Young Tastemakers
HAY Colour Crates
HAY’s collection of versatile, colorful, mix-and-matchable storage crates are bestsellers at DWR for a reason. Affordable, made of recycled plastic waste, and available in multiple stackable sizes in dozens of bright colors, HAY Colour Crates make the perfect gifts for a teen or young adult who’s getting started decorating and organizing their own space. But truly, they can make great gifts for anyone – HAY Colour Crates can be used to organize cutlery and kitchen supplies, toiletries, craft supplies, tools, stationery, and more, making them the perfect choice for anyone.
Yoshitomo Nara Art Book
Japanese pop artist Yoshitomo Nara’s cute-yet-sinister big-headed characters have found a deep fanbase in young art enthusiasts, especially those who enjoy Japanese art. As such, his monograph, a hardcover coffee table book rich with imagery of more than 30 years of Nara’s artwork, as well as personal texts of Nara’s, would make the perfect gift for an enigmatic young art lover. The book itself is a striking work of art, covered by one of Nara's “big-headed girls” staring out at the viewer – a great starter for a burgeoning coffee table book collection.
Playful Drinkware
Playful yet elegant, Sophie Lou Jacobsen’s whimsical designs include drinkware and serveware pieces ideal for adding a little extra flair to your loved one’s daily routines or social gatherings. A beautiful Bloom Teapot makes the perfect tea-related gift, while a pair of Ripple Wine Glasses can make drinking water (or wine) a bit more stylish. Enhance your loved one’s hosting game with a silver Squiggle Tray and Pitcher or a set of Bilboquet Wine Glasses (for wine nights) or a set of Piano Martini glasses (for cocktail nights).
Dusen Dusen Textiles
Brooklyn-based textiles and home goods brand Dusen Dusen’s bright patterned items have become go-to gifts for trendy young design lovers whose style skews punchy and postmodern. At DWR, discover unique Dusen Dusen gifts to add a little color and texture to your loved one’s home and lifestyle, including striped beach towels, patterned bedding and sheet sets, and tactile throw pillows.
Portable Lighting
If there’s one thing that can ruin an apartment’s vibe, it’s a harsh overhead light fixture. If you’re looking for a good gift for a young person who may be living in a rented space with poor built-in lighting options, give them the ability to control the mood in their space with a portable, dimmable LED light fixture like the PC Portable Lamp. This lightweight portable LED lamp is available in multiple fun water-resistant colors for reliable ambient lighting both indoors and out.
Gifts for Outside the Home
HAY Outdoor Market Collection
DWR’s collection of modern design gifts isn’t limited to gifts for the home. If you’re shopping for a loved one who is outdoors more often than indoors, consider the on-the-go-friendly items in HAY’s wide-ranging Outdoor Market Collection. This humbly stylish new collection, designed by British designer Jasper Morrison, includes everything one might need to spend a day (or two) outdoors: outdoor dinnerware, a camp stove and outdoor cooking accessories, coolers and totes, a hammock, cushions and outdoor blankets, outdoor furniture, a thermos, even a shade canopy. If you’re shopping for someone outdoorsy, or someone with a knack for al fresco entertaining, the HAY Market Collection has you covered.
HAY Dog Accessories
Enhance your or your loved one's dog’s street style with a gift of a collar or leash from HAY’s Dog Collection, designed by Mette Hay in collaboration with Danish style icon Barbara Maj Husted Werner. The collars and leashes in this collection feature HAY’s signature color blocking, with adjustable buckles to fit furry friends of all sizes. A dog accessory is the perfect thoughtful gift for someone who would like to walk their dog in style.