Indie Gift Guide: Philly

Share some brotherly love with great handmade gifts straight from the heart of Philadelphia

By Tara Murtha
Published: December 1st, 2008 | 12:30pm

Art Star

Intellivision pillows, hand-screenprinted cards, bubble bracelets, and reconstructed clothes — you can get anything and everything handmade and cool in Philly at Art Star.

Umlaut Design

Umlaut Design is a solid source for felted bags, striped mittens, cute atomic strawberry pincushions to stash needles, and unique bibs for baby.

Nantaka Joy

Whipping organic shapes into sleek, high-end design, Nantaka Joy gives us classy but approachable stationery cool enough to raise expostulatory love affairs triumphant over late-night texting. Wish list: notebooks imprinted with rose gold agate, note cards, and place cards.

Fabrik

Check out the belts hand-woven on a traditional Mayan backstrap-loom and fun handwarmers! Fabrik's other Etsy shop is Julre, which has oodles of fun, simple jewelry like wooden dangly earrings, coiled bangles, and pendants in earthy palettes for stone-lovers.

Mike Geno

I've been obsessed with Mike Geno's meat paintings for a while — and he just expanded his Etsy store with archival prints of classics like "Divine Steak" (a Jesus face in a T-bone), "Transgender God" ("What would Jesus say on Oprah? We'd hug him if he was transgender, wouldn't we?"), and “Woo Hoo,” a silhouette of a chick socking it to a dude. Inspirational art.

Smelly Kelly’s Soaps

One-stop shop for when you need both bright alphabet crayons AND Scrabble tiles upcycled into pendants.

Grasshopper

Big glass sneakers, pin-up paintings, and hearts made of wood — I need all of these things displayed across my collarbone.