There is so much good in life – the task at hand is focusing on what is meaningful and essential. Due to the last year and a half of isolation from the pandemic, many of us have been provided the opportunity for change. A space to reconsider what we value. A time to reflect on what brings us life and what does not. That’s why I’ve created an Interior Designer’s Gift Guide focused on meaning and living.

With this holiday season rapidly approaching, I am excited to spend the holidays with the people in my life that I love and have missed. Nothing is more important than sharing space and time with those I love. This year I have had time to reflect on what is important and more than anything it is relationships. Not just with the people I know but my relationship to the world around me and my responsibility to add to the wellbeing of that world. I know the supply chain is struggling from over demand and under supply, but how much do we really need?

So maybe this year we focus more on wellbeing. Let’s focus on spending time experiencing life together throughout the year, not just for a season or a day. We can make the holidays about giving the gift of love – for each other, to all, everywhere we go!

A Focus on Beautiful Living: Items

Below is a list of ideas collected for an Interior Designer’s Gift Guide, devoted to intentional holiday giving. I’ve also created a holiday hosting guide, which can be found here.

Since we’ve had some seriously limited travel that is starting to open back up, I have put together some travel items trips sure to satisfy wanderlust. I’ve also included publications sure to spark inspiration, both for those just in the dreaming stage and those who are booking tickets.

Let’s start with a few items for the everyday and for travel.

Gotta Mask

Soft Silicone mask that is durable, comfortable & reusable, designed for better breathability, increased airflow and protection against germs. Adjustable, with an anti-fog seal, this mask has replaceable filters that promise 50 hours of 95% filtration.

Aperçu Sunnies

Alyssa II Bone

“Our brand was borne of the idea that we each have a singular point of view. It’s an appreciation of how we apply our own aperçu, or insight, through the highly individual style choices we make each day.”

Aquatalia

Italian Luxury Footwear and Accessories committed to fashion, comfort & quality.

Weatherproof Fuoco Low-Heel Booties

Tatcha Dewey Mist 

The popular option for skin hydration when on the go! I swear by this for plane travel.

Life Straw

A travel must! This small gadget allows you to filter water almost anywhere.

For every LifeStraw product purchased, a child in need
receives safe water for an entire year.

Voya Tote

A fabulous travel bag, a splurge item in preparation for your next trip!

Bearaby Weighted Knit Blanket

“A chunky, weighted knit helps you sleep better and feel calmer under a blanket made with a touch of stretch from soft organic cotton.”

Bali Power Ring

“Supporting more than 75 unique movements, this 10-pound power ring lets you press, hold, swing and squat to increase strength, agility, endurance and balance.”

Body Pro Massager

This massage gun from Body Pro can help you relieve muscle stiffness and pain, accelerate muscle recovery, and improve the overall health of the soft tissues of the body.

Canopy Bedroom Humidifier

With anti-mold and easy clean function, this dehumidifier offers pure moisture and clean aroma diffusion.

Herman Miller Oripura Laptop Stand

This stand opens to optimal position and instantly provides a more comfortable work experience. Lightweight, portable, foldable, and compact when collapsed.

A Focus on Beautiful Living: Wanderlust Publications

Cercle

“Cercle Magazine focuses on the idea of ​​mustering professional, literary, visual, scientific and artistic aspects of one theme per issue, and to propose an inquisitive, playful but also a demanding and inspiring magazine.”

Now with 9 issues, this French publication offers a discount on collections of five, six, seven or eight of your choice.

Cereal Magazine 

“Cereal is a biannual, travel & style magazine based in the United Kingdom. Each issue focuses on a select number of destinations, alongside engaging interviews and stories on unique design, art, and fashion.”

Passion Passport

Passion Passport offers interesting travel guides in partnership w/ local creatives for the ultimate experience at varying destinations. Why not send a subscription to the jet-setter in your life?

Boat Magazine

“Boat magazine is a nomadic travel + culture publication that focuses on a different, inspiring city for each issue.” Issues spotlight locales such as Kyoto, Detroit, Lima, the Faroe Islands and more.

 

Experiences

La Peetch

Formerly Paul & Julia Child’s home // Vacation rental in Provence, France that offers the Courageous Cooking School

About La Peetch and homestay, La Pitchoune:

“La Peetch is operated by Okay, Perfect. A lifestyle brand that focuses on cultivating human flourishing.

…

La Pitchoune was built by Julia and Paul Child in the 1960’s and has hosted hundreds of famous food influencers over the years. In the 1990’s Kathie Alex turned it into a cooking school, Cooking with Friends in France, and is now the home of The Courageous Cooking École de Cuisine.

La Pitchoune is not a hotel. It is a living, breathing home that is and has been used heavily as a cooking school and home for nearly 50 years. Our gorgeous, and intimate vacation rental is available during the summer and winter months for two unique and vastly different opportunities.”

About the Courageous Cooking School:

It celebrates cooking based on your intuition.

“Our Chefs and our Culinary Director have tested and crafted what we believe to be the most beautiful way to teach cooks of all stripes how to create, explore, and play with food.”

Peggy Markel Culinary Adventures

This is for the foodies and wanna-be foodies…

“Peggy Markel’s Culinary Adventures delivers personalized, educational, hands-on travel experiences that feed the soul. With a perpetual curiosity and reverence for the rich tapestry created by food and culture, Peggy Markel has designed and directed carefully hand-crafted food and culture trips around the world for 25 years.”

Tulum Mexico

Explore Tulum with these wellness retreats!

“Since 2012 , The Wellness Concierge operates private wellbeing services in beautiful Tulum, Mexico and soon in other stunning parts of the world! We design tailored vacations for busy people, with health and wellness in mind. Our team is made up of experienced eco guides, wellness experts, fun foodies and Tulum lovers.”

The Raj

Ayurvedic Healing Retreat

“The Raj is the only facility outside of India specifically built to offer the traditional Ayurvedic detoxification treatments, known as Panchakarma… Located on 100 acres of rolling meadows and woodlands in Iowa’s heartland, The Raj offers an ideal environment to transform and rejuvenate.”

Buena Vida

Psilocybin Healing Retreats

“We use sacred psilocybin mushrooms to heal past traumas, unveil creativity and inspire gratitude. Live medicine music, sound bowl vibrations, calming meditations, and a judgement-free community surround our work. Take a safe, secure adventure into the most mystical area of the universe: your inner self!”

Backroads

Active travel options for the family! This is simply a resource to plan your next group vacation, where you are sure to create shared memories to last a lifetime.

A Focus on Beautiful Living: Charities

Oceana

“an international organization focused solely on oceans, dedicated to achieving measurable change by conducting specific, science-based policy campaigns with fixed deadlines and articulated goals.”

Oxfam

“Oxfam is a global organization that fights inequality to end poverty and injustice. We offer lifesaving support in times of crisis and advocate for economic justice, gender equality, and climate action. We demand equal rights and equal treatment so that everyone can thrive, not just survive.

Inequality is the most pressing issue of our time. And for 80 years, people like you have fueled our mission to end poverty and injustice. From the highlands of Central America and the corn fields of Uganda to the shores of the southern Gulf Coast in the US, Oxfam and our supporters are fighting to guarantee a life of dignity for every person in crisis and to challenge billionaires, corporations, governments, and international financial institutions to do better.”

Trees For The Future

Mission: To end hunger and poverty by training farmers to regenerate their land.

MAP International

“an organization providing medicines and health supplies to those in need around the world so they might experience life to the fullest. MAP serves all people regardless of religion, gender, race, nationality or ethnic background.”

A Focus on Beautiful Living: Gifts with Purpose

Kendra Scott Friendship Bracelet

Feed Project

We make great bags that do a lot of good. Every purchase provides school meals. The number on every product represents school meals donated.

Cuddles and Kind

“We created cuddle+kind because we wanted to make beautiful hand-knit dolls that help feed children. So for every cuddle+kind doll sold, we give 10 meals to children in need.”

PURPOSE Jewelry

“PURPOSE Jewelry’s mission is to empower girls and young women escaping human trafficking to embrace their true identity and worth.”

 

This Interior Designer’s Gift Guide highlights the ways great design can make the world a better place to be. Devotion to design thinking is a method that raises standards and demands better for the world as a whole.