Skip the big-box stores and shopping malls this year; you can give gorgeous, handcrafted gifts and support small-operation, local businesses in one fell swoop this holiday season. In a city with so many talented—and friendly!—makers, there's no excuse for shopping chain stores for gifts. Get your presents from these local L.A. businesses, whether you're picking up pieces directly from the studio, at a holiday market or working together on a custom gift. Who knows, you may make a new friend or two in the process.
Half Ceramics triangle vase, $85; halfceramics.com
Artist and ceramicist Nick McPhail hand-shapes vases, mugs and more in his sunny backyard studio; he also hosts art shows for other local makers in his Silver Lake home.
David Scheid stained-glass triangle, $90-$550; davidscheidstainedglass.com
Stained-glass artist David Scheid's hanging triangles mix geometric panes of complementary colors that catch the sunlight, creating bright and ever-shifting shadows.
Gold Teeth Brooklyn greeting cards, $5 each; goldteethbrooklyn.com
Colorful, witty cards are printed in maker Jesse Levison's equally bright Eastside studio, to which she recently moved from Brooklyn (hence the moniker).
Block Shop Textiles saddle baby quilt, $280; blockshoptextiles.com
L.A.-based sisters Lily and Hopie Stockman fuse ancient Indian processes with a modern Californian aesthetic to create their scarves, wall hangings, and all-new hand-stitched baby quilts.
Wildcare western red cedar hydrosol, $18; hellowildcare.com
Self-taught distiller Cortney Herrera makes this hydrating, restorative mist from responsibly harvested, steam-distilled cedar and local mountain spring water.
Botanica Workshop romy bralette, $110; botanicaworkshop.com
For her wispy delicates, designer Misa Miyagawa uses organic, barely-there cotton for full-coverage comfort with lots of sex appeal.
Amelia Giller lady pins, $12 each; ameliagiller.com
Local illustrator and animator Amelia Giller is objectifying (and we mean that in the best and most literal sense) her characters in enamel for fun, wearable girl power.
Miwak Junior connector, $100; miwakjunior.com
Ergonomically and aesthetically perfect, these ceramic pipes are shaped and fired by Chilean fine artist Sebastian Boher and sold by his sweet, Southern-drawling wife, Alice.
Becca Lofchie "In Retrograde" calendar, $24; beccalofchie.com
Echo Park artists Becca Lofchie pokes fun at the metaphysical in her two tongue-in-cheek calendars, In Retrograde and Useful Crystals, illustrated by artists Gray Wielebinski, and printed locally by Never Press.
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