Psst, Santa: Get a load of these
Picking the perfect gift isn’t enough; presentation is everything. For those left uninspired by metallic paper, nylon bows and gift bags, Venice-based Knock Knock offers an alternative for sticky wrapping situations.
When she launched the company in autumn of last year, founder Jen Bilik, 34, wanted to appeal to “smart people with a sense of humor,” people who don’t buy into sugary sentiment.
So instead of using candy canes and gingerbread men, Bilik recorded her employees singing “Jingle Bells” and turned the oscilloscope readout into her Soundwaves wrapping paper.
“I love the idea of the visual representation of scientific information,” Bilik said. “And if you turn the paper sideways, the sound waves look like Christmas trees.”
Knock Knock’s holiday line also includes a red and green Christmas Barcode design, as well as a wrap based on an encrypted version of the poem popularly referred to as “ ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas.” The Pine Needles paper provides a natural camouflage in case gift-givers need to hide presents in plain sight.
For Hanukkah, Bilik created Matzoh wrapping paper, which, when laid flat, resembles a giant cracker.
“I prefer to create things that are more than just decorative. I’d like them to have some creative underpinnings,” said Bilik, whose products are available at more than 200 stores in Southern California or online at www.knockknock.biz.
Bilik’s unconventional outlook extends to her holiday how-to cards, which cover everything from opening a bottle of Champagne and decorating a tree to making a dreidel out of clay. The Christmas Price Index card calculates how much a person would spend if he or she actually bought their true love every item in the song “The Twelve Days of Christmas.” And for those who can’t seem to get it together before the end of the year, there’s the January card offering belated (or early, depending on how you look at it) greetings.
Ana Cantu
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A worthy goal
At L.A. Goal, a program for the developmentally disabled now in its 35th year, making art is more than just therapy. It’s a salaried job for 20 creative souls who, as members of the Inside Out Productions studio, produce work that echoes artistic techniques from Impressionism to the bold animated style of Japan’s recent Superflat movement.
Along with annual shows at the Skirball Cultural Center and Jan Baum Gallery, L.A. Goal raises funds through its winter holiday boutiques. This year’s event takes place Saturday from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. at 10838 Washington Blvd., Culver City, and features a wide array of artist-designed holiday cards, decorative artworks, kitchen goods, bedding and hand-painted wood furniture. More information: www.insideoutproductions.com.
David A. Keeps
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Lights out
It’s probably going a tad far to say that Scrooge has traded in his top hat for a Stetson, but a holiday decorating survey asserts that the West will have the least decked-out neighborhoods compared with the rest of the United States this year.
Meanwhile, Northeasterners will be lighting up the night in the coming weeks more than anyone else, according to the poll of 1,044 households conducted for Wal-Mart.
Overall, 72% of those asked said they were planning to put up outdoor decorations, from full-blown Santa’s workshop displays to a more modest wreath on the door.
Scott Sandell
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Gulp!
If someone on your holiday shopping list covets the work of architect Richard Meier but you haven’t yet saved enough money to make an offer on the Getty Center (it’s not on the market, anyway), there’s a slightly more affordable option: a Meier-designed Lucite case containing six bottles of Dom Perignon, vintage 1995.
Dom Perignon executives recruited Meier, who has designed not only buildings but also furniture, tableware and lighting. Manager Jenna Sagnan said the original idea was for Meier to create a Lucite trunk, but that proved impractical. The final product is a case that resembles a drawer and contains a wave of frosted Lucite to hold the bottles in place.
Of course, with only 250 of the intoxicating pieces available, the $2,000 suggested retail price tag just might sober you up.
-- Scott Sandell