The best hand crafted gifts for Christmas 2023
Presents from some of Britain’s finest makers and craft emporiums
If you could ask for anything for Christmas, who wouldn’t want a one-off? Something made with oodles of creativity and skill? With this in mind, we have tracked down some of our nation’s loveliest hand-crafted gifts, made by basket weavers, ceramicists, blacksmiths, glassmakers and carpenters. We also suggest a couple of places to buy kits to create beautiful bespoke items yourself — or to give to someone who may like to try their hand at DIY.
Garden trug
Sarah Loughlin and Marcus Wootton create all their baskets at their home studio in Worcestershire using local willow and beech. The small trug (49cm x 24cm) is perfect for flower picking or collecting fruit and veg from the garden. The duo make pieces to order too, from multicoloured log baskets to smart picnic hampers.
£125, hopewoodbaskets.co.uk
Bud glass vase
Pale pink roses look exquisite in this little bud vase (13cm x 8cm), marbled together from red, gold, amber and pink glass by glassmakers in Clavering, Essex. Because they are all designed in the Peak District and hand-blown, each vase is slightly different. They can be ordered in various colours, from purples to blues.
£125, theglass.studio.com
Make-a-stool kit
The Central Saint Martins-trained designer Jan Hendzel loves making furniture so much he wants others to catch the bug. Which is why he created this make-it-yourself Cable Shop Stool kit, containing a seat and legs made from sustainably sourced British timber, and all the bits (other than a hammer and drill) that you will need to put it all together with the help of an online tutorial. Those less confident can buy the ready-made stool for £695.
£395, janhendzel.com
Lacquered tray
Scarlett and Sallis do one thing — and do it well. That is, make beautiful handmade lacquered trays in various shapes and colours. Sold through the UK’s most tempting homeware site, Abask, which was co-founded by Tom Chapman of the fashion site Matches the scalloped wooden trays are covered with a layer of clay then lacquered about 20 times to achieve a high-gloss finish. The green version is glorious, with a sheen like a wet jungle leaf. It comes in camel, pink, burgundy and blue too.
£160, abask.com
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Leather phone bag
Yusuf Osman — one of the artisans backed by Johann Rupert’s association of craftspeople, Homo Faber — didn’t intend to make leather goods. He did a course while studying to become a solicitor and fell in love with the tactile fabric, which he moulds, plaits, sews and dyes into products from bags to table mats. His Envelope Pocket Bag is simple, useful and beautiful.
£95, yussi.co
Knit yourself a blanket kit
Even if you’re not a knitter this blanket is apparently simple to make. The Lil’ Take Me Home Blanket kit comes with a pair of needles, eight balls of pure Peruvian wool (undyed or in a range of colours) and a pattern. All it will take, say the instructions, is eight hours of sitting, clicking away. Followed by a lifetime of smug enjoyment.
£126, woolandthegang.com
Japanese slow-cooking pot
Japan House in South Kensington is one of those shops it’s almost impossible to leave without buying something, whether that’s a little rice cake, some matcha tea or a donabe. The traditional pot is handmade in Japan with clay, fortified with stone powder and slow baked at a high temperature to give it strength. The resulting vessel can be used to slow cook stews or soups in an oven or as a serving pot, and comes in a black or white glaze.
£315, japanhouselondon.uk
Shepherd’s hut
Plankbridge’s shepherd’s huts are made in Dorset using English and European wood, insulated with sheep’s wool. They have a fitted kitchen, a shower room, king-size bed, wood-burning stove — and, if you fork out a little extra, a hot tub. A dream space into which to escape from annoying family members.
£76,000, plankbridge.com
Handmade teapot
It has been created in London by one of our city’s most talented ceramicists. It’s crafted from fine stoneware and has an inbuilt strainer, so you can make a brew in it using loose leaves. And it’s for tea — our nation’s favourite drink. What more could anyone want for Christmas than this elegant teapot by Matthew Warner? Well, if we are being really greedy, a pair of matching teacups.
£400, matthewwarner.co.uk
Knife set
There aren’t many people who have visited Blenheim Forge in south London and not been blown away by the skill of its young blacksmiths. This stainless-steel-clad set of four Japanese-steel knives are beautifully fixed to their fumed-oak handles with a brass ferrule. They come in a hand-stitched leather roll made locally by Deptford-based Owen Leather.
£1,320, blenheimforge.co.uk
Ceramic candelabra
Having spent the first part of her working life as a womenswear buyer for Harrods and Harvey Nichols, Sue Gunn studied art and now creates earthy, almost otherworldly candle holders reminiscent of tree roots, with surfaces that resemble bones or shells. Each candelabra is handmade and fired in her south London studio, and finished with a pale cracked-earth glaze. One of a large collection of exquisite ceramics by local makers in the East Dulwich gallery Grove Vale Ceramics.
£395, grovevaleceramics.co.uk
