Interior design school gift options?

August 2, 2010 2:40 PM

What gift should I get an individual that graduated from an interior design school?

I want to give a gift to congratulate someone on completing her education in interior design. I would like to get a gift that relates to the industry.

What kinds of things do interior designers need on a daily basis? What kinds of gifts are synonymous with interior design?

I was thinking something along the lines of a leather bound sketch book, nice pencil set, protractor kit, or an iPad or small computer (like a dell 10”).

I am not sure, however, if any of these really matters to a designer.

Thanks in advance!

posted by birdlips to education (3 answers total)

As a design geek, I personally would love it if someone gave me a Field Notes Colors subscription Something leatherbound is always nice too.

But yeah, notebooks in ANY profession are awesome. I don't care how great your iPad/netbook/PDA is, none of these will ever compare to the mental and creative energy that a pen(cil) and some fine paper will give.

Speaking of pencils, I absolutely love these. Might be a nice complement if you get her a sketchbook or a notepad or something.
posted by jnrussell at 3:45 PM on August 2, 2010

Working interior designers spend a lot of time browsing catalogs and a lot of time meeting with clients and showing them options from those catalogs. An iPad would seem like the perfect tool for such tasks, except that so many designer furniture/flooring/etc companies have catalogs that are done in Flash. I'd go for the netbook, or maybe an Android tablet running 2.2 (which supports Flash.)
posted by contraption at 6:42 PM on August 2, 2010

Maybe one of those fancy leather tape measures, small enough to keep in a bag.

A digital camera, if they don't already have one.

A membership to ASID.

So much depends on where/how they will be employed. They may be a desk jockey in a commercial design firm, making specifications and never seeing clients. Basically, paperwork. They could work in a small residential design firm, seeing clients all the time, driving around a lot, and doing all kinds of things.

Without knowing what kind of job they're going to have, it's hard to give specifics on "tools of the trade" because they may not need those fancy pencils if their firm supplies them already, you know?
posted by wwartorff at 8:04 PM on August 3, 2010