Gift Ideas 2: Out-of-town favorites from Renegade Chicago!

Featuring products from my three favorite out-of-towners from Chicago's Holiday Renegade fair! These are all works on paper, but, gee whiz, I just couldn't help myself!
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 JUST A JAR (Marietta, OH)
Fin de siècle letterpress charm

These cards can be found on Etsy here.

I'm always a sucker for all-things-Ohio, so this little press from the southeastern corner of my home state caught my eye. Sara Alway & Bobby Rosenstock have got a good sense of humor, and these remind me a little of another Ohio favorite, Married to the Sea (here's my vote for a collaboration!). Just A Jar's other projects are neat, too, including a series of posters with quotations from the German philosopher Martin Heidegger; a Do THIS, not THAT classroom (mis)behavior guide poster series; and a Spring 2011 forthcoming book called Soil Mates: A Vegetable Dating Guide. Neato!

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1CANOE2 (Columbia, MO)
Whimsical, illustration-based letterpress

Carrie Shryock & Beth Snyder have some seriously sweet handwriting; the fanciful script is distinctive, the colors bright, and their tendency to organize fun and functional. I've always wanted a collection of "Things That Are Round," as the coasters above illustrate, and the skewed proportions of "Things That Are Long" looks like my kind of math. Those rainbow-hued recipe cards above come with a handmade wooden box that is really mouth-watering (and it just got picked up by Anthropologie, so you may be seeing loads more of the like in the near future).

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KRANK PRESS (Los Angeles, CA)
Modern, simple letterpress cards and prints

Eleanor Nissley works as an architect in LA, and her organized, modern architectural aesthetic shows in her letterpress work. The New York Times Magazine did a post about her back in January 2010, which you can read here.

I love perpetual calendars, and a beautiful, functional calendar that tells you what produce is in season for your area is right up my alley. She had Chicago-area produce calendars at Renegade, but they aren't offered on her website right now, so contact her if you'd like to order one.
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