A timely list inspired by one of my more popular tweets.
1) Socks
Artists and crafters and other folks on a freelance budget tend to skimp on necessities in favor of tools, art supplies, entry fees and the like. Socks in particular are often sacrificed as hand warmers and rags. Buy an artist a nice fresh set of good-quality socks, or t-shirts, or hell, a case of toiletries, even.
Warm things are always good, as the kinds of places that people make art and music and furniture and the like tend to be cold.
2) Services
Maintaining an artistic practice adds a lot of chore-like tasks on top of normal life and job stuff. Sometimes there’s just not enough gas in the tank to clean and maintain everything. Gift certificates for services like house cleaning or an oil change are likely to be well-received.
3) A gift card to a non-art store
Artists want to spend their money on art things. A gift card to a grocery store or restaurant you know they like frees up a bit of their own money to direct toward art things. Not to mention that cash flow is tricky even for very successful creatives.
4) Buying their work at the advertised price like that’s a very normal thing to do
If your creative friend has work in a gallery, or an album on Bandcamp, or jewelry on Etsy, or a book on Amazon, buy it without making a thing out of it. This gives them: a) money, b) a sale — which is usually tracked publicly, and c) validation. Three in one!
5) Weird books
Skip the coffee table books of graffiti art and journals full of drawing prompts. Hit your local flea market and get something WEIRD. Books that make you say “What IS this?” and also “Wait, seriously though what is this?” Old manuals, books of maps, comically outdated medical guides, that sort of thing. Most of the stuff that is expressly designed to “inspire” creatives is trite garbage.
6) Simple, high-quality bags and containers
A really good bag or box will always find a happy home in a creative person’s life. Creatives have projects, projects mean things, things have to get organized and stored and hauled about. When I helped run a pop-up market, more than half of the vendors hauled their wares in cheap brittle plastic tubs held together with prayers and duct tape.
Even writers like me end up carrying around lots of books and papers. I’m liking this Wirecutter-recommended Baggu tote bag.
7) A sample pack of supplies, if you just can’t help yourself
I get it: buying stationery and art and crafting supplies is fun. I still miss back-to-school shopping. Having a crafty friend is a great excuse to spend time in an art store (not that you need one). If you simply must be direct about it and buy pencils or brushes or paints or what-have-you, opt for variety. Discovering even one thing they love in a mix of supplies is a greater gift than many identical supplies they don’t really care for.
*** Originally published as List No. 37 of the 7x77 newsletter project.