'Tis The Season-Day Eight!

For those of you who are counting, we're down to the wire as far as holiday shopping is concerned. One of our favorite gifts to give (and receive) is a beautiful book. We've collected several of our recent favorites here that we find incredibly inspiring and think would be wonderful additions to any design library.

First up is HUE, the new book from Kelly Wearstler. Full of rich, vibrant images from several of her recent projects, we continue to be impressed and stimulated by her bold strokes and amazing sense of scale. We're still obsessed with this project and were happy to see even more images of it in this book. Whether you like her work or not, you can't help but applaud her risk taking and the fact that she's unapologetic about going for it. We think she knocks it out of the ball park and it doesn't hurt that she also happens to be a genuinely nice and down-to-earth person (the truly talented usually are). To learn even more about this fantastic book click here to read a great article on 1stdibs.

Our second suggestion is Kid Made Modern written by another one of our favorites Todd Oldham. Todd's got terrific talent and a recent article about him in New York magazine really made us start thinking about what's truly important. This newest DIY book of his (a great follow-up to his last book Hand Made Modern) is all about having fun with kids and mid-century design. Colorful, exciting and informative, this instructional guide is perfect for our design-within-reach generation and will bring joy to anyone who loves a craft project whether you're 5, or 55!

Our next choice makes a great stocking stuffer for anyone who's ever been a fan of modern architecture. Titled Frank Lloyd Wright: American Master, this small scale book measures just under 7" x 10" but has 400 pages of exhilarating photography and offers a stunning overview of Wright's work from the well known to the obscure. We were blown away a few months ago when we went to see one of his most famous projects Fallingwater in person, so a few of our nearest and dearest shouldn't be surprised when this adorable but highly informative book shows up under a few trees this year.

Finally, we were thrilled last year when Taschen decided to release a limited edition over-scaled book on one of our favorite artists Walton Ford entitled Pancha Tantra. However, we weren't as excited about the almost $2,000.00 price tag! So imagine our delight when a few weeks ago we walked into a store and saw that they had re-released the same book in a much more manageable size and, a much more manageable price. Ford's large-scale, highly-detailed watercolors of animals may recall the prints of 19th century illustrators such as John James Audubon. But a closer look reveals a complex universe, full of symbols and sly jokes. This book is must have for anyone who appreciates the fine arts and also enjoys a bit of clever irreverence.