HELLO Our mission at Makers Union Co. has always been to connect people with special products, their makers and share their stories. As an attempt to further live out that mission, we have decided to put together a gift guide that features an extremely abbreviated number of goods and highlight some of the makers. The items on the following pages are some of our favorites, are on our wish lists, and/or we feel could fit in our shop. These items have any of the following characteristics: superior quality, handmade, crafted in the USA, have a story, and/or are simply beautiful. It must also be said that this was inspired from the Design Work Life Gift Guides. It was sad news to see the DWL blog shut down. I found those guides extremely helpful and our hope is that this will help you find some great gifts with great stories. Jake Dugard Co-Founder of MUCo
ABOUT MAKERS UNION CO. Makers Union Co. is a design studio, retail store and workspace dedicated to connecting people to unique, well-crafted products and teaching different creative processes. Our storefront is a finely-curated collection of practical goods and art objects from local and national makers. Our space is also devoted to the act of creation, so we teach and host a variety of workshops, classes and events to encourage people to make.
CLOTHING + ACCESSORIES WAXED CANVAS MESSENGER BAG UGMONK $219 • Durable water-resistant 14oz waxed canvas • Solid metal nickel-plated hardware and rivets • Premium 7oz vegetable tanned leather • Interior pockets, pen holders and key clip • Dimensions: 16” x 11” x 4”
“It started with a simple idea and our mission remains the same: Create high-quality, well-designed goods that we wanted ourselves.”
THE CHUNKY KNIT CARDIGAN EVERLANE $130 • Relaxed fit: Drapes loosely off your body • 100% extra-fine Merino wool • Features a shawl collar and contrasting buttons
“We spend months finding the best factories around the world—the very same ones that produce your favorite designer labels. We visit them often, and build strong personal relationships with the owners.”
CACTUS TEE DEUS EX MACHINA $49.95
MAKE OR DIE HOODIE MAKERS UNION CO. $54.95 • Super soft triblend fabric (65% Combed Ringspun Cotton / 28% Polyester / 7% Rayon) • Screen printed by hand • Water based ink
TOPO X WOOLRICH ROVER PACK TOPO DESIGNS $189 • 18”h x 11”w x 5”d • Woolrich wool and 1000d CORDURA® fabric outer with coated pack cloth liner. • Heavy duty plastic hardware, lightweight backpack straps with mesh backs, drawstring closure
“The idea around simplicity and the sense of connectedness with the things we own is a huge part of Topo Designs.”
HOME BOURBON + BROWN SUGAR CANDLE SYDNEY HALE $30 • Hand made in Virginia in small batches • Premium soy wax blend / double cotton wick • 14 oz. / 50 hour burn time
“We hand make our line of home fragrance products from our studio in Purcellville, VA. We are truly ‘small batch’ and enjoy this production style as it keeps us in touch with our craft and allows us to take our time and enjoy it.”
COPPER LAMP CASSIDY KEIM $160
SEERSUCKER RED NAPKIN HEDLEY & BENNETT $14.50
LARGE CAMP CUP MAZAMA $38
CAST IRON SKILLET FINEX $195 • Patented Octagonal “Multi-Pour” Design • Ultra Smooth Cooking Surface • Easy to Grip, Quick Cooling Handle • Brass Cap Allows for Easy Hanging • “Good Forever” Warranty
“[We are] a small team of Portland-based perfectionists dedicated to making heirloom quality cast iron cookware in America for the first time in over half a century. We believe one skillet can tell a story. That one skillet holds an entire history of meals and memories… Your history is built one meal at a time.”
HOME AGAIN THE BOARDWALK QUILT HOPEWELL $365 • 100% natural colorfast cotton • Yarn-dyed essex linen • Dimensions: 40x60”
“Eliza, an art director, and Claire, a fine artist, came together with a simple idea: combine skills to make new products, all of which bear the artisan’s mark. Growing up in the studios of engineers and painters, they carry a deep respect for the crafts. Between the two, Eliza and Claire have experience in woodworking, ceramics, sculpting, knitting, quilting, and painting.”
SMALL WOODEN PLANTER WIND & WILLOW $24
BRASS ION LAMP SCHOOLHOUSE ELECTRIC & SUPPLY CO. $129 RUMO’S SHAMPOO RUMO’S $19+
BATH+BODY OIL (WOODS) FIG+YARROW $44 • Grounding and detoxifying arboraceous blend for all skin types
“All the materials I use--from the lovely and vibrant roots, leaves, flowers, minerals and oils to the glass containers the products live in--are selected for beauty, health and purity as they are designed to evoke these qualities for the user.”
EAT, DRINK, & BE MERRY
VARIOUS BEERS GREAT RAFT BREWING VARIOUS PRICING
BOURBAN BARREL AGED OLD FASHIONED BITTERMILK $30 • Made in small batches • No preservatives or stabilizers • 8.5 fl. oz
“Bittermilk is a line of cocktail mixers made for cocktail enthusiasts by bartenders with real ingredients. Crafted and bottled by human hands in Charleston, SC. The labor is in the bottle, just add booze.”
CERAMIC FLASK MISC. GOODS CO. $92
ARTISON COLLECTION MAST BROTHERS CHOCOLATE $44
VARIOUS BLENDS STUMPTOWN COFFEE ROASTERS VARIOUS PRICING “We source the best coffees in the world and strive to maintain transparent, quality-based relationships with our farmers along the way. From plant to portafilter,
VANILLA SALTED CARAMEL MALVI MARSHMALLOW CONFECTIONS $6
we pay homage to these folks through our own fervent attention to detail at every step, quality control in our cupping labs, meticulous roasting profiles and extensive barista education.”
OFFICE + TOOLS THE ORIGINAL HARDCORE HAMMERS $79 • Recessed milled insert • Head is 19 oz. • Handle is 18 inches
“I have first hand experience with the frustration of the waffle on a brand new framing hammer wearing smooth long before the rest of the hammer wears out. As anyone who swings a hammer for a living knows, that grooved surface makes all the difference in driving nails.”
CODE MODE LIGHT FAIR GOODS $229 • Jessica Hische and Palette Industries • Powder-coated hand-spun steel body • Hand-applied translucent vinyl • 10.5” diameter, 2.5” depth
“Our favorite, most-loved items are often the ones with a story behind them. But really, every product has a story. Someone had an idea and it evolved into a finished, lovely thing. That’s what Fairgoods is about: putting the maker at the forefront and letting our customers into the process, into the work itself — and celebrating it.”
THE 15” TOOLBOX BEST MADE CO. $68 • 22 gauge powder coated steel • Spot welded with a latch closure • 15” toolbox
“Our company was founded in 2009 by Peter BuchananSmith who saw a need for a better axe: an evocative tool that played an indispensable role in his life working on cattle farms and paddling and portaging the lakes of Northern Canada.”
UNEXPOSED FIELD NOTES $9.95/3 PACK
RACQUET PENCILS SIDESHOW PRESS $16.50/5 PACK
FUN + TOYS
STATES BLOCKS UNCLE GOOSE $100 • 50 basswood cubes • State image and name, capital, motto, bird, flower, and tree
“Why such fastidious attention to detail? One hundred years from now, a child will be playing and learning with the same set of heirloom blocks we made today. Our products need to do more than look photogenic: they need to embody what it means to be beautiful and sustainable.”
PLUSH FOX FRIEND FINKELSTEINS $46
THE WANDAWEGA SURESHOT WANDAWEGA CAMP STORE $15
SUPER SET TATTLY $200 NO. 14, 07, & 01 MITCHELL BAT COMPANY $195
• Contains 100 of top selling designs enclosed in a sturdy tin • Safe & non-toxic • Printed with vegetable-based ink
POCKET POUCH PRISM TEGU $30 • Includes 4 triangular prisms, 2 parallelograms • Designed in the USA, purposefully made in Honduras
“We believe that every child possess the unhindered ability to build, create, and imagine. And they aren’t only creating towering block structures and backyard tree forts, they are building their futures.”
GOOD READS THE KINFOLK TABLE KINFOLK $35 • 1/3 cookbook, 1/3 narrative tale, 1/3 international adventure • Collection of 85 delectable recipes • Nearly 400 pages
“The book reflects our ideas about the way we believe entertaining should be: comfortable, simple, slow and meaningful. We traveled around the world, sharing food and collecting ideas from our growing community of chefs, home cooks, designers, bloggers, photographers and others, many of whom contributed recipes to The Kinfolk Table.”
THE MONOCLE GUIDE TO GOOD BUSINESS GESTALTEN $60
ISSUE ONE THE GREAT DISCONTENT $30
ISSUE ONE LAGOM £10 • 128 pages • 140gsm stock and 300gsm foil-blocked cover
“Lagom is a publication about people making a living from their passions, and pastime activities that offer inspiration. Borrowing the Swedish word that represents having just the right amount of something, our bi-annual magazine features those who achieve a sense of balance in their everyday and professional lives.”
GATHER JOURNAL GATHER $19.99 • 128 pages • 7.5” x 9.5”
“We started Gather because of a shared love of food and cooking, and a desire to create a magazine with staying power on your bookshelf.”
VOLUME 7 CEREAL £10
ART IT’S OK BANNER SECRET HOLIDAY CO. $68 • Natural unbleached soft cotton • Hand cut letters from black wool felt and machinestitched with black thread.
“I believe each piece I create is an extension of the first quilt my mother taught me to stitch, and the first that my mother’s mother taught her to stitch and so on. This is my history being passed on to you.”
LOTUS INALUXE $39 • Finely-printed on sturdy canvas • Hung with banged-up wooden rods on the top and bottom • Wood is hand-stained, treated and painted
“The Inaluxe team excitedly look forward to each new project and long running relationships alike, with dedicated approach of keeping fine art of the highest quality with collaborators of a similar mindset.”
NATIONAL PARKS CHECKLIST MAP PRINT ELLO THERE $49+ “We create pieces that are personal to us… Our work reflects the things we are passionate about in life. Travel (always down for a road trip), being in nature, photography, movies, pop culture, collecting records, among other things.”
HAND-PUPPET CHART SIDESHOW SIGN CO. $190 • Finely-printed on sturdy canvas • Hung with banged-up wooden rods on the top and bottom • Wood is hand-stained, treated and painted
“[We] work passionately to reintroduce the partnership of high-end design and traditional fabrication to the sign industry. Created with a process that focuses on craftsmanship and attention-to-detail rather than massproduction, your sign, like your business, is one of a kind.”
HIM
GRISSOM WALLET BELL & OAK $115 • Dimensions: 4.5” wide x 3.5” tall closed • Horween® Chromexcel® Aniline Leather • Edges are burnished, dyed, and waxed by hand
“One that is dedicated to my grandfathers craft and to small brands trying to rejuvenate American Made Goods… Currently all of the products are being made inside Weldon’s using most of my grandpa’s old tools
HAND-PAINTED SAW ZACHARY SMITH CUSTOM
that have been in our family for decades.”
HAMILTON J. STARK $24 • Dimensions: 16x16” • Antwerp Natural Linen • Double Stitched Coats & Clark Thread
“It’s important to me that the goods are useful and durable first, and that the design and materials used in their construction give the goods an authentic and timeless aesthetic.”
WILLIE RIGID IMOGENE + WILLIE $250
MEASURE TWICE SIGN MAKERS UNION CO. $50
BORN FREE JACKET CONTINO BRAND $365 • Inspired by clubhouse jackets of the 1940s • 100% wool in a navy colorway • Felt chest design and felt embroidered patch • Collaborator: Ebbets Field Flannels
“The goal is not only to highlight the hand-made artistry of the products, but the people and processes behind each one. It may be difficult to realize in the world we live in today, but everything around us has a story. I hope to highlight some of those stories and create a collection that’s more than just stuff.”
HER DANDELION RING PEG AND AWL $96 • Comes bundled in a giftable letter pressed package. • Made from recycled 14K gold, sterling silver or bronze. • Available in sizes 5 through 8
“Our work is made from olde things, treasures found and recovered from misfortune and neglect, relics of the unusual, the confused and the macabre, cut and pulled and built into wearable curiosities, inscribable keepsakes and useable, longlasting treasures.”
BARKLEY WARBY PARKER $95
BARKL H’MONG MAKEUP BAG NOONDAY COLLECTION $30 “Noonday Collection’s mission is to create economic opportunity for the vulnerable. We partner with artisans in the developing world, empowering them to grow sustainable businesses. By creating a marketplace for their goods, we create dignified jobs at living wages.”
GEM PENDANT JILL MAKES $27
MESERET FASHION ABLE $72 • Medium weight • Handmade in Ethiopia • Ridiculously soft 100% cotton
ARTISAN PERFUME OIL SMOKE $60
“The fashionABLE mission is to create sustainable business for Africans so they aren’t dependent upon charity, but instead earn the dignity of a job. We offer opportunity to everyone, with a primary focus on empowering women.”
206 North Vienna Street Ruston, LA 71270 info@makersunion.co makersunion.co
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to their respective owners.