advent calendar 2021

Gift of the Day: A Handsome Zigzag Blanket

Photo-Illustration: Curbed; Photo: Retailer

Welcome to Curbed’s Advent-calendar gift guide. For each of the 25 days before Christmas, we will be doling out, one by one, the gifts recommended by dozens of design bigwigs with extremely good taste. So keep checking in daily for new drops.

This blanket from Kelly Harris Smith is, per architect Andrew Ashey, “not too light or too heavy, forms to your body well, is soft without feeling too precious, durable, doesn’t pill, and holds color after many washings.” Plus, he says, it looks great. “Smith has a keen eye for geometric and ordered patterns plus a beautiful sense of color. The designs are quite striking.”

Ashley happens to know the blanket’s giftee appeal firsthand because he received it as a housewarming gift two years ago and uses it constantly. “I thought it was just a perfect decorative throw for the new couch we had just bought, but turns out it’s extremely comfortable as well, so we use it daily,” he says. Recently, he has been curled up underneath it reading Welcome Home — the latest in a trilogy of recipe books from cocktail bar Death & Co, which he says would also make an especially nice gift. “The recipes in this one are more approachable, which is perfect for those still inclined to stay in during these times. It’s wonderfully written with some of the most beautiful cocktail photography I’ve seen. Utter eye candy.”

Gift of the Day: A Handsome Zigzag Blanket