gifts
Seattle Magazine’s 2016 Gift Guide
Featuring finds from local stores as special as our favorite holiday songs and sayings, our 2016 gift guide proves December really is the most wonderful time of the year
The Land of Must-have Toys… Techy teens can collect the customizable smart bracelets, $69, from Seattle-based start-up Gemio, which light up when a friend, also wearing a band, is nearby. Available for preorder at gogemio.com Take Legos to go with the locally made Swoop mini bag, $26, perfect for toting toys during holiday travel. swoopbags.com Seattle-based industrial…
Orcas Island Artist Gives New Life to Fallen Trees
With Laura Yeats' touch, madrona trees become beautiful vessels
ORCAS ISLAND ARTIST LAURA YEATS has developed a unique relationship with a particular species of the island’s ubiquitous flora: the madrona tree. She uses the madrona’s gnarled, spout-like knots—which form as the tree self-prunes and heals itself—to create her imaginative bud vessels. “They started out as solid, sculptural pieces,” Yeats says, “but Nisha Klein…
Elevate Your Serving Ware with Elegant Teapots
Deborah Schwartzkopf's porcelain teapots are a notch above the usual serving ware
The dramatically different pottery styles of George Rodriguez and Deborah Schwartzkopf of Ceramistas Seattle make it hard to believe both of them create their work in the same West Seattle home studio. Rodriguez’s large clay figures can weigh as much as 300 pounds, while Schwartzkopf’s smaller-scale, porcelain teapots elevate serving ware. But despite their dissimilar…
Holiday Cooking & Cocktail Classes You Really Shouldn’t Miss
There may be no better pre-holiday gift than a spot at Bruce Naftaly’s (sure-to-sell-out-in-a-hot-minute!) cooking classes at Le Gourmand. In fact, several years ago I sent my parents to one of Naftaly’s classes, and though I have yet to see demi-glace grace the old Austin table during a holiday dinner, George and Nancy sure enjoyed…