Christmas Gifts for People Who Have Everything
Every December the same person is impossible to shop for. Here is a different way to think about the problem.
People who have everything do not need more. They notice what is real.
Summary
- Shoppers for people with everything usually need an object with a story, not another product.
- A piece turned from a coffee tree root of more than a century has a story that is true and easy to tell.
- Each piece is one of one, so no one else will give the same gift.
Key takeaways
- Skip novelty and look for provenance.
- Choose something the person will use, not store.
- A true story is the best wrapping.
There is always one person on the list who has everything. They buy what they want, when they want it. A gift card feels lazy. Another gadget feels pointless.
The way out is to stop looking for something new and start looking for something true.
What they are missing
Not objects. They have objects. What they rarely have is something with a real origin that they can explain to a visitor in two sentences. A thing with a story is a different kind of gift.
A story that holds up
Ours goes like this. On our finca near Antigua, Guatemala, we were clearing coffee trees that were close to a hundred years old. The root balls were enormous. The usual practice is to burn them where they are dug. We loaded them onto a tractor instead and took them to an artisan in town. See The Morning We Almost Burned a Century of Coffee Roots.
Today those roots are turned into candleholders, one root at a time. In our search, we have not found anyone else making functional art from century-old coffee roots.
Why a candleholder
A candleholder is used, not stored. It sits on a table and holds a flame. The person who receives it will touch it, light it, and move it. That is better than a sculpture they are afraid to handle. See Why a Candleholder, and Not Something Else.
What makes it feel like a gift
Each piece arrives in a handwoven ropa típica cloth bag. It carries its own serial number and an authentication certificate you can look up on our Verify page. It has a name. Nothing about it feels like an item pulled from a shelf.
One of one
Each root is different, so each piece is different. No design is made twice. Your gift will not turn up on someone else's mantel. See What One of One Really Means.
What it costs
Pieces are priced from roughly $1,200 to just under $2,000. That is a serious sum for a gift, and we do not pretend otherwise. See A Note on Patience and Price. First-time buyers can ask about our holiday offer, described in Your First Purchase: How the Holiday Offer Works.
How to choose
Browse the archive and notice which piece draws your eye. Then picture the person lifting it from the cloth. Does it suit their home and their way of sitting down in the evening? If you are unsure, message us on WhatsApp and describe them. We will tell you honestly which piece we think fits.
Common questions
Is this a good gift for someone who dislikes clutter?
Yes. It is a single object that is meant to be used.
Will they know the price?
We do not put price information in the packaging.
Keep reading
Every piece is one of one.
Browse the specimen archive and acquire the piece that speaks to you. Each is catalogued once and sold once.