Indie Designer Gifts

We'd happily serve as the third wheel in a weekend of vintage shopping with husband-and-wife team Scott Jarrell and Kristan Cunningham — especially if it meant riding along in their 1963 Chevy truck! The couple's LA-based design firm and newly opened interiors store, Hammer and Spear, demonstrates their knack for nailing effortlessly cool interiors.

Whether you're exploring their brick-and-mortar store or trolling the ecommerce site, you're bound to end up with something in your cart. Since they're pros at sniffing out the best vintage finds and artisanal treasures, we decided to find out which items are topping their gift and wish lists. Take a look at the things they're dying to get and give this holiday season!

Kristan: I'm not super girlie, in the sense that I don't have a ton of bags, and the ones I do have I keep for years. There's absolutely nothing that this Clare Vivier clutch ($210) won't go with — from jeans and a white t-shirt to a little black dress, so it makes for a great staple. And it can hold so much!

Scott: The whole Triumph & Disaster line of products are must haves, but the Stash Box ($150) packages them all nice and tidy, with beautiful imagery — it even comes with a shaving brush!

Scott: When a product is well-designed, made with quality materials, and expertly crafted, there’s no need for a bunch of bells and whistles. Mifland’s bags are simple and timeless, and the two-tone on this one ($415) is a simple detail that provides tons of impact. These guys nailed it.

Kristan: Vanja Bazdulj is a crazy talented London-based designer, making handcrafted tableware out of slab-built clay. Her shapes are simple and raw, and the drawings are childlike, but the pieces are remarkably sophisticated. I have a feeling that coffee would taste better out of one of her mugs ($41).

Keep reading to see what they're planning on giving this year!

Kristan and Scott: We both live and work a few blocks from the Skid Row section of downtown Los Angeles and see daily just how many people are struggling with homelessness. Would-Works is one of the only organizations we’ve seen be truly effective in getting many of those folks on the right path to re-entering the workplace. Not a charity, artisans work toward achieving goals. Included with each cutting board ($90) is a tag that identifies that artisan and the goal you were able to help him or her achieve, like paying first month’s rent or buying a bus ticket home.

Kristan and Scott: This Tom Dixon candle ($80) is a great gift to give to someone whose home you've never been to, because you know it'll look great in any interior, no matter the style! Not only does it smell ridiculous, but the container is absolutely worth spending a few minutes to clean out and use as a bud vase or pen cup.

Kristan and Scott: Art — good art, signed art — is so hard to find and is rarely affordable. We collaborated with Anon.Y.Mouse on this exclusive series of Arts District prints ($40), and the imagery is just sick. He handmakes the paper, makes his own inks — every part of the process is done by the artist. Not bad for $40! A really thoughtful gift for someone at a turning point in their life.

Kristan and Scott: Inspired by the night skies at [Frank Lloyd Wright's] Taliesan West masterpiece, this scarf ($225) would be the perfect thing to gift her or someone who loves both fashion and architecture.