How to Buy Gifts for Architects: The Ultimate Guide

Have absolutely no idea what to get your architecturally-predisposed friend or family member? Or perhaps you think you’ve managed to decipher their Moleskine-toting, coffee-drinking veneer and know just the perfect gift? Perhaps, even, you are the architecturally-predisposed family member, looking for a convenient way to show others what to get you. Either way, architects have rapidly evolving and often incredibly niche tastes that can be hard to shop for. But worry no longer, the secret guide to what and what not to give architects this holiday season is here:

DO NOT Give: Books about architects you've heard of.

DO Give: Books about architects you've NEVER heard of.

DO NOT Give: Electronics—they probably have all the latest gadgets already.

DO Give: Pens and notebooks—they can never have too many of these.

DO NOT Give: Netflix subscriptions—they’re distracted easily enough as it is.

DO Give: Spotify/Apple Music subscription—less of a distraction, more of a sidekick.

DO NOT Give: Modelling software—they probably already get free versions as a student or employee, and don’t want to be reminded of CAD in the holidays.

DO Give: The Sims 4—so they can not only design houses, but do whatever they want with the clients!

DO NOT Give: Tote bags—chances are they have 50 different ones already.

DO Give: Tea bags, for caffeine without the coffee-induced jitters.

DO NOT Give: Tissues. Even though they might look like they constantly want to cry, that’s just their normal expression.

DO Give: Rolls of butter paper/baking paper—just slightly thicker than tissues, and a classic old-school studio tool that’s also incredibly useful.

Save this picture! © Sharon Lam, using image via screenshot from Wikimedia user Paste licensed under Public Domain

DO NOT Give: Clothes—they could have very picky sartorial tastes, even if it doesn’t look like it.

DO Give: Underwear—the more clean underwear, the less frequently one has to do laundry, which your time-strapped architect friend will be thankful for.

DO NOT Give: Succulents—these are so last year.

DO Give: Sea monkeys—a much better desk companion, and will offer some sentient companionship during long work days.

DO NOT Give: A shipping container—again, very mainstream, every architect under the sun is making things out of shipping containers.

DO Give: A dumpster—these are forecast to be the next shipping containers of the architectural world, so make sure your special architect has one before everyone else. Maybe they’ll even make a tiny house out of it for you! Or if they don't, at least they'll have a convenient place to put all their old models and drawings they no longer have a use for.

DO NOT Give: A Mies van der Rohe Barcelona chair—way too mainstream.

DO Give: Eileen Gray’s “dragons” armchair—a true bespoke piece of furniture once owned by Yves Saint Laurent, and a steal at £19.4 million.

DO NOT Give: Anything you’re still not 100% sure about.

DO Give: Cold hard cash. There's a good chance they're short of it.