Ad Categories: Home and Garden

I was a personal shopper for a day. A personal shopper with an assistant (our art director, Megan Duffy Rostan), and no actual client. Our mission: to identify some great holiday gifts in the 900 North Shops. We focused on home décor and accessories, and came up with a great group of items, from stocking stuffers to expensive gifts for a very special person. The gifts were on display at a Four Seasons luncheon hosted by our magazine, Chicago, and 900 North Shops. You can also see them on display at the mall on Level 3 next to Mark Shale. Here’s what we found:

A hot pink Burberry cashmere scarf from Bloomingdales that would double as a fab table runner, art books beautifully packaged from Silk Trading Co., L’Occitane candles and soaps (you can never go wrong with this wonderfully packaged stuff), and a heat- and cold-resistant silver bowl from Northern Possessions.

Tumblers that can double as votives from Genevieve Lethu (a bargain at $78 for a set of 6; I want these for myself!), cardboard coasters (just $15!) and a paperweight from Jane Weber, Ink!, tissue covers from Silk Trading Co., and an adjustable silver candelabrum from Christofle.

A glass cheese board and knife from Genevieve Lethu, Rosle’s life-changing garlic press (it’s amazing! I have one) and paper-and-resin cutting board from Williams Sonoma, and elegant goblets (put pencils or toothbrushes in them) from Bernardaud ($70 each).

—JAN PARR

Photography: Randy Belice

Our friend Tate Gunnerson, who blogs about home design at Strange Closets, reports that Terry Ledford has opened a second White Attic in Bucktown at 1842 N. Damen Ave. (773-252-8844). See more photos of this wonderful store—known for painted furniture—here.

—JAN PARR

Photo: Tate Gunnerson 

I just saw these on the Stitch Web site. How fun for serving appetizers on Thanksgiving (you know, the whole bird theme and all). Or just hang one on your dining room wall and get your guests talking. They are so bizarre but in the most fabulous way. Price: $175; 10 percent off through November 28.

—Gina Bazer

Teroforma is an interesting new Connecticut-based company that just debuted at the New York International Gift Fair this past August. This company is built around (from the description in their press materials): “identifying promising young designers around the world and ‘matchmaking’ them with master artisans who hand-craft their works—a designer of glass tumblers in Norway was introduced to a master glassblower in the Czech Republic; a small studio outside Beijing keeping a vanishing traditional pottery craft alive was the perfect choice to hand-fabricate bone china designed in the U.K….” Not only do we like the idea of this global consortium of talent, but we like the results: all sorts of beautiful tabletop wares, from glassware to dinnerware to linens. In Chicago, Teroforma is carried at Elements. The shop currently carries only glass (“all non-lead crystal, mouthblown by master blowers”; tumblers are $20 to 28), but can order other pieces as well.

—Gina Bazer

Our art director, Megan Duffy Rostan, and I went on an unusual shopping spree today. Our mission was to find great holiday gifts at the 900 North Michigan Shops. We were selecting items for a lunch I will be hosting to promote shopping at the mall. I’ll post our finds later on this blog, but one thing that really impressed us today was Silk Trading Company. We wrote about the company’s “Drapery Out-of-a-Box” collection when it debuted, but neither us of had ever been in the showroom. We loved the teal blue ottoman displayed at the foot of a bed, and really admired the furniture styles, such as the chairs shown here (I don’t care for the striped fabric on the one chair, but the chair itself has great bones). All furniture can be made in any one of the hundreds of fabrics Silk Trading carries.

—JAN PARR

I.D. has carried select Blu Dot pieces for some time, but now the store is expanding its Blu Dot selection and creating a store within-a-store for the line. Blu Dot’s founders will be on hand tonight at a party at I.D. to celebrate the partnership. (If all goes well, we’ll be there, too.) Hooray, we say! We can’t get enough Blu Dot.

—JAN PARR

Friday night I hit Andersonville for dinner at Hopleaf (love!) and to check out the work of Meriellen Johnson at Scout, where owner Larry Vodak was hosting a reception for her. I’d seen her primitive yet somehow sophisticated and very endearing charcoals and pastels of plants and flowers before at Scout, and was eager to see more of her stuff. The pieces, many in vintage frames from Argentina from Architectural Artifacts were vivid and wonderful and the place was packed. There are still some left, so be sure to check them out. Across the street at Las Manos Gallery was another great exhibit by a local artist: Chuck Meyers (shown at right). Most of the paintings there were of scenes in Andersonville. How appropriate for a night out in this always fun hood.

—Gina Bazer

The Jewish marriage contract, or Ketubah, is something every couple that gets married before a rabbi must sign. It’s also something many newlyweds like to turn into art for their homes. Plenty of Web sites and Judaica shops offer services that will transform your Ketubah into a “work of art,” but few (if any) offer a modern sensibility (which is in large part—the other part is pure laziness—why my own Ketubah is on 8½ by 11 Xerox paper, folded up, in a drawer). Mod Jewish couples listen up: Jason Pickleman of JNL Graphic Design (see our story about his home here ), the creative mind behind all that cool lettering on the walls at the Montrose station on the Brown line and much more, just emailed us about his latest venture, CoolKetubah. His hip designs would really fit into any decor.

—Gina Bazer