Giving gifts is the perfect way to show to friends, family, and loved ones what they mean to you, and finding the perfect present sometimes takes some time and effort. We’re here to help with ideas and tips for gifts any design and paper lover would truly love and cherish. A reader favorite and an annual tradition of the years past: our Design & Paper Holiday Gift Guide is here! In the first half of our gift guide, we focus on published paper goods: books and magazines, for both adults and children, as well as beautiful agendas for 2023, and notepads and notebooks – some for all styles and tastes.
A reader favorite and an annual tradition of the years past: our Design & Paper Holiday Gift Guide is here! In the first half of our gift guide, we focus on published paper goods: books and magazines, for both adults and children, as well as beautiful agendas for 2023, and notepads and notebooks – some for all styles and tastes.
Some of the books and agendas on our list you might have seen or come across on Design & Paper or on our social media channels this year, which should tell you how much we love them and wish you share the sentiment. Our team hand-picked each and every book, magazine, notepad, and planner in this guide, not just for their beautifully designed covers, but for the story, concept, unique paper choices, or specialty printing techniques. Each one is a stand-alone example of exceptional publishing work – and any true paper lover would be happy to find them under their Christmas tree this year.
Part two coming this Thursday, and will include dozens of gift ideas for the home & lifestyle
But this is not all, as this Thursday we’re putting out the second part of our Paper Lovers Holiday Gift Guide series, where we list our favorite paper goods for the home – including desk and wall calendars, cards, posters, skin care, crafting supplies, designer card decks, as more.
Books & Magazines
Baking Bread by Sandra Wandl (orig. Brot Backen)
Available in German language.
Baking bread yourself is not only fun, but also leads to excellent results. The ingredients can be self-determined and the bread is made without unhealthy additives. In this beautiful book, you will find 60 different recipes, which offer something suitable for every occasion and taste. Together with step-by-step instructions, the home-baked bread succeeds at home. The book is with a practical spiral binding and sustainable premium design paper from Austria.
Link to buy: here
Backstage Talks Magazine No. 6
Available in English Language.
Curiosity and excitement are necessary parts of any creative process. How do we nourish them, especially in times of global anxiety and uncertainty? We’ve asked leading creatives, including Kenya Hara, Giorgia Lupi, David Zilber, Cas Holman and Stefan Sagmeister, how they do it. Backstage Talks is a magazine of casual, but in-depth dialogues on design and business. Our decisions shape and influence this complex world—to have a chance to make the right ones, we need to talk.
Link to buy: here
PAPER IN THE BOOK (orig. Papier v knihe)
Available in Slovak Language.
The main topic is paper. Specifically, the paper in the book. The first book about books and their haptic properties is published under the auspices of finkner_print. The book contains compilations of interviews with Slovak designers and a 32-page picture gallery, repeatedly printed on a wide range of 12 selected papers.
Link to buy: here
The Raven by Edgar Allan Poe (Czech translation: Krkavec)
Available in Czech language.
Edgar Allan Poe has often been regarded as a central figure of American literature and the Romanticism movement in the US. And it was Poe’s famous poem “The Raven“, originally published in 1845, that helped Poe become a household name as the poem gained instant success. In the new, graphic novel edition of Krkavec, the Czech public gets its hands on one of the masterpieces of modern Czech translation by Tomáš Jacko. Tailor-made illustrations by Olga Hanková were block printed in silver and everything was printed exclusively on premium black paper Pergraphica® Infinite Black, which only adds new layers of depth to the dark thrills of the internationally acclaimed poem.
Link to buy: here
Districts Travel Book Series (orig. OKRESKY)
Available in Slovak Language.
The OKRESKY (“Districts” in eng.) travel book series, which serves as a documentation and an inspirational guide to a perfect five-day road trip, has grown with a new, beautiful 10-piece limited-edition “Districts Slovakia”. The OKRESKY series which includes Czech, Croatian, and now Slovakian titles are created by author and photographer Miloš Fusek, and designed by Dušan Chmeliar. “The concept of this project is to show people that there is a different way of traveling, in which it is okay to take the slower route to the desired destination. I have selected books as the main carrier of this idea, as in this fast world they represent the opportunity to slow down. To differentiate from the rest of the competition and to my own preferences, I decided to put a strong focus on good design and matching photography”.
Link to buy: here
History of Music – Classics (orig. Dějiny hudby)
Available in Czech Language.
The book History of Music discusses the European history of classical music through 33 portraits of famous composers representative for a certain epoch. With each chapter having its own color. The book is richly illustrated with structured information about the epoch, art style, music, musical instruments, composers as well as their life stories supplemented with poems.
The origin of the idea for the book came to be two years ago, then authors and illustrators Šárka Pelikánová and Jakub Janeba were looking for a book about the history of music that would carry the reader demonstratively and easily through this subject.
Link to buy: here
Children’s Books
But the departure! Cartoon history of aviation (orig. Ale odlot!)
Available in Polish Language.
There has never been such a history of aviation! Everything that flies – from the first balloons and hang gliders to jets, drones and a solar-powered plane – in one spectacular comic book album about the conquest of the sky. With text and illustrations by Jacek Ambrożewski, this will prove a wonderful gift to any flight enthusiast.
Link to buy: here
Wolves. True Stories (orig. Wilki. Historie prawdziwe)
Available in Polish Language.
Nature documentary comic about wolves and people. Wolves have bad press. It is known: Little Red Riding Hood, sensational stories that can be heard on TV, “do not look with a wolf”, “do not call the wolf out of the forest”… And guess what? This is all untrue. Wolves are wonderful, fascinating animals. And this is what the Mizielińscy have been doing for the last few years. Their guide was Michał Figura, a memberof the Association for Nature “Wolf”, which studies wolves, lynxes and bears, works to protect these animals and educates the public about them.
Link to buy: here
Warren the 13th series: Book 1: The All-Seeing Eye & Book 2: The Whispering Woods
Available in Bulgarian Language.
Warren the 13th is an award-winning series of action-packed illustrated novels created for young teens between the ages of 8 and 12. The series is published by Quirk Books, an American publishing house focused on entertaining, enlightening, and strikingly unconventional books for adults and children and translated into numerous languages for the enjoyment of children around the globe – including Bulgarian. With fantastic Victorian’esque design, fast-paced action, and plenty of puzzles to solve, this middle-grade mystery is a fun and engaging read for even the most reluctant readers!
Warren the 13th and the All-Seeing Eye: Link to buy here.
Warren the 13th and the Whispering Woods: Link to buy here
Notepads & Planners
Munken Agenda 2023
This year’s edition of the agenda was created by students from Forsbergs school in Stockholm, Sweden, which is a design and advertising school that has a proud history of typography and book design. Considering the heritage of Forsbergs, as well as of Munken, this is a perfect opportunity to embrace the historical and symbiotic relationship between paper mills and typography – two disciplines that have been of fundamental importance in communication for centuries.
The message of this year’s agenda: All that is needed to create an agenda is typography and paper. Here, past and future generations of typographers meet: Berling from 1951, and Nero Grotesk from 2021. Two chronologically distant typefaces, and typographers, unite in the same work.
Link to buy: here
THE LTRST NOTEBOOK
“Nothing more simply holds as much possibility, promise, and power, as a single piece of blank paper.” The third edition of the LTRST notebook is here and as magnificent as ever. 256 pages of premium Munken 120 g/m² paper, subtle mini-dotted grid in light grey, thread-stitching, and perfect lay-flat behaviour. Textured grey fabric cover with gold foil debossing.
Link to buy: here
PABUKU X MODULETTO NOTEBOOK COLLECTION: »SUBMARINE« »BALANCE« »DAYDREAM«
These limited notebooks with original Pabuku illustrations are the perfect tool for your plans, drafts and ideas. The whole Moduletto is produced in Austria, including the paper used. The notebook covers are coated with an environmentally friendly organic film so that the book stays beautiful for a long time. The thicker paper which is FSC® and C2C certified paired with a CO2-neutral printing from a company certified with the Austrian eco-lablel, make those notepads not only a beautiful but also sustainable present.
Link to buy: here
NOTESS FINEBOOK - Contemporary fine art notebook collections
NOTESS has teamed up with some of the best-known artists in the Hungarian contemporary art scene, Zsófi Barabás, József Csató and Zsuzsa Moizer to create the limited edition Finebook notebook series. Known for its ethical and planet-friendly notebooks, Notess’ first art series draw attention to the diversity of Budapest’s cultural scene, following Hello Budapest and Hello Copenhagen, which focus on metropolitan architecture.
This new collections’s social aim is to help children who were deprived of their joyful childhood by chronic disease. All profit from this product will be donated to Smile Foundation that provides art and tale therapy to give these children positive psychological support. (Munken)
Link to buy: here
Agendas #slaninkova
The Everyday Collection is a limited edition of diaries and calendars for the year 2023. This year´s collection is inspired by everyday life – its present moment and flow. The collection is finished by hand and the visual processing of the covers is unique for each piece.
Link to buy: here
Notebook Ella by in love with paper
Ella is an explorer of the world who loves questions – learning and growing with the answers. Ella is looking for another inquisitive mind to explore your world together and celebrate your curiosity. Ella is made from innovative upcycling paper with a fold-out page to remind you of things that matter to you: perhaps intentions, recurring questions, en empowering motto or a friendly note-to-self. Or anything else you want to keep in mind and thus in sight.
Link to buy: here
Notes with BLACK paper by PD BOX
If you want someone you love to feel special, to have a big smile and strong enthusiasm , this is the right gift. The elegant matte-black box, dedication, white gel pen and notebook tucked into a high-quality black box exude true luxury and glamour. Perfection is in the details: the goal was to achieve maximum quality in production and awaken new senses in the user, which is why the premium Pergraphica® Infinite Black was used in producing the notebooks.
Link to buy: here
IRKA 2023 calendar, limited, exclusive edition by DOT for You
The IRKA 2023 calendar is made in DOT for You’s usual high quality and exclusive design. The pattern on the cover and front page was made using the ink paintings of artist Erika Baglyas, the founder of DOT for You design brand. The IRKA diary has 2 functions: a calendar and a notebook in one. In addition to annual, monthly, and weekly dated overviews, it provides freely editable notebook pages. The second half of the calendar is specifically for note-taking. You can easily mark which part you are working on with the 2 ribbon bookmarks. The paper pocket glued to the back cover helps you store the smaller notes.
Link to buy: here
RFLX” NOTEBOOK SET by Fabrik Media
RFLX is a series of notebooks whose unique covers describe a network of lines that rotate 3 degrees from one copy to another and a selection of letters that revolve in isometric space. Like the North acts on the needle of a compass, the facets of the letters influence the angle of the lines. The set contains 4 different “RFLX” notebooks made on 480 unique covers, 4 letters×4 colours×30 frames with covers on Neobond Green/Black/Grey/Yellow 200 g/m2.
Link to buy: here
The Wine Journal
The wine journal is not just a tasting notebook. It is a true guide through time. A special gift for a loved one or for yourself. Keeper of the innermost wine emotions and evaluations. A place to share your impressions and acquire new knowledge and skills. A stylish way to go even deeper into the magical and endless world of wine. Describe your wine journey and book lessons from every wine you taste at home, in a restaurant, during an event or at a tasting.
Link to buy: here