Objects of Desire

The Wick Culture - © Estate of Jean-Michel Basquiat

Objects ‘Trumpet Skateboards’, by Jean-Michel Basquiat

€550

On this Black Friday we’re forgoing the sales, instead suggesting gifts that give back to communities in need of support. Art-loving skaters shouldn’t go without this triptych of boards bearing Jean-Michel Basquiat’s 1984 work, Trumpet. Inspired by his passion for jazz, it features classic Basquiat hallmarks, such as a stick figure and crossed out letters. Perhaps more suited to a wall than a half pipe, it’s one of many artist editions sold by The Skateroom, which puts a share of its profits towards empowering youth around the world, building new skateparks and developing education facilities.

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The Wick Culture - Emmely Elgersma, Pistachio Stool © Sarabande Foundation

Objects Pistachio stool by Emmely Elgersma

£456

Your loved ones will sit pretty on this stool by sculptor and ceramist Emmely Elgersma for The Sarabande Foundation, knowing that proceeds from your gift will support its mission to provide artists with studio spaces and new opportunities. The pistachio-coloured stool is made from a confection of papier maché, recycled IKEA Mammut, polypropylene, newspaper, acrylic and varnish. It looks good enough to eat.

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The Wick Culture - Courts and Fields 4 ©Ishkar

Object Courts and Fields 4 rug, by Christopher Le Brun

£5,000

Ishkar is a London-based business that sells artisanal wares by makers in war-torn and politically unstable countries, giving them economic opportunities and helping to keep regional crafts alive. It was only a matter of time before Ishkar co-founder Edmund Le Brun tapped his artist father Christopher to collaborate with the artisans. He has designed a series of rugs in limited-editions of five that are made to order by highly skilled hands in Afghanistan. It takes two weavers up to six months to translate his colourful, abstract designs into Ghazni wool, known for its luxurious finish. Weaving is one of the few professions that women are still permitted to do by the Taliban, because it can be done in their own homes. Gift yourself or someone you love a rug, and you’ll be giving the weavers a vital lifeline.

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The Wick Culture - Brass serving spoon by sebastiao Lobo

Object Serving spoon by Sebastião Lobo

€140

For serving spoons with a difference, turn to L’Oeil de KO. This platform for artisanal objects is brought to us by Studio KO, the Paris and Marrakech-based architecture practice behind the Yves Saint Laurent Museum in Marrakech. Anything will taste good served from this curvaceous brass beauty by Lisbon metalsmith Sebastião Lobo.

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The Wick Culture - Placemats featuring textile designs by Louise Bourgeois

Object Louise Bourgeois corkboard placemat set

£50

Louise Bourgeois is best known for her giant spider installations, but textiles also played a lead role in her work, perhaps as a result of working in her parents’ tapestry restoration workshop in Paris when she was young. This quartet of corkboard placemats from the House of Voltaire features eye-popping textile designs from her archive to give some geometric drama to your tabletop.

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The Wick Culture - Salt and pepper grinders by the Haas Brothers

Object Haas Fantomes salt and pepper grinders

£495

Add a pinch of surrealism to your dining table this festive season with a pair of salt and pepper grinders by American artists, the Haas Brothers. With wooden bases, topped with gold heads, the condiment holders bear the typically playful spirit of twin brothers Nikolai and Simon, who like to blur the line between art and design.

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The Wick Culture - Antheia Vase by Freya Bramble-Carter

Object Antheia Vase by Freya Bramble-Carter

Freya Bramble-Carter’s ceramic vases have a visceral quality – you can’t help but reach out and touch their glaze-laden surfaces. The London-based artist trained under her father Chris Bramble but she likes to ‘unlearn’ the rules, taking a highly experimental approach to her craft and allowing the making process to determine the final result. Named after the Greek goddess of flowers, her Antheia Vase for the House of Hackney is a bulb-shaped beauty with a luscious concoction of glazes that appears to run down its surface. It gives a humble bunch of flowers a spiritual dimension.

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The Wick Culture - Undulating collection of vessels by Tanya Gomez

Objects Undulating collection by Tanya Gomez

Tanya Gomez’s lustrous porcelain vessels are exercises in simplicity. For her chromatic Undulating series, she took cues from the dramatic sea paintings of masters, such as Turner and Whistler, as well as her own experiences of being on the ocean, which gave her ‘an insight into the immense mass of colour and light that is ever changing on the horizon,’ as she puts it. Get lost in the watery-blue depths of this striking trio.

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The Wick Culture - Hungry plate by Martha Freud

Objects Eat My Words collection by Martha Freud

We all know the feeling – that hangry sensation, when your empty stomach makes controlling your words an impossibility. Martha Freud does the apologising for you, with her plate emblazoned with the words “I’m Sorry For What I Said When I Was Hungry”. It is one of ten designs from her limited-edition tableware collection, Eat My Words, each piece etched with her signature lettering and bearing comments that reference our relationship to food – mostly good, sometimes not so good and occasionally hilarious – with the ceramicist’s trademark irreverence. We can’t get enough.

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