Holiday-Ready Gifts Abound at AmericasMart
By Micah Cheek
Beautiful giftable items for serving at the home bar and the dinner table were heavily featured at this year’s Atlanta International Gift & Home Furnishings Market. Many of the products available make great gifts with the addition of a bottle of wine or a bite to eat.
Gifting for the amateur mixologist or craft brew fan is as easy as combining a nice bottle of spirits with an attractive tool for the home bar. AmericasMart featured a number of charming options for adding to the home bar.
Pineapples are making their way into lots of fun and colorful designs, and copper continues to be a popular colorway. The Oggi Pineapple Tumbler combines the best of both worlds. “The Oggi Pineapple has done really well this year as a vessel,” says Steve Kurtis, National Sales Manager, Oggi Corporation. “You can use it in a lot of different ways. In the last few years, it’s following through this more novelty style.”
Vagnbys designs beautiful objects for living, and wine tools that are perfect for gifting. The company has designs in matte black and highly polished alloys and stainless steel, all making great gifts for wine enthusiasts. Vagnbys’ Champagne Twister effortlessly uncorks champagne and other sparkling wines. The four-legged design latches to the cork and reduces the danger of the cork flying off. The Stopper eliminates waste by preserving the flavor and finish of open bottles of wine, keeping bubbles in and oxygen out. The Champagne Pourer ensures controlled pouring and no drips.
Sparq Home is a bar and serveware line that features recycled soapstone. These inexpensive pieces are made complete with a beverage or a couple cheeses to serve with. Users can recreate the brewery experience at home by serving beers in tap house style with the Soapstone Beer Flight. Four 6-ounce glasses will hold craft brews from Porters to IPAs, allowing users to sip and note the aromas and tastes. The live edge soapstone board is 100 percent reclaimed and makes for easy transportation. This is the perfect gift for any craft beer enthusiast.
Oak barrels age spirits to peak flavor, just like the full-sized oak barrels found in professional distilleries. Smaller barrel sizes accelerate the aging process, allowing spirits fans to enjoy perfectly aged spirits in as little as two weeks. Thousand Oaks Barrel Company makes toasted white oak casks that are perfectly sized for the bar top, designed for aging and improving alcohol. “Inside the fibers of the wood is an enormous amount of flavor. When you char the barrel, all that comes out,” says Bryan Weisberg, Founder and CEO. “Take a bottle of spirits, add an essence, and get premium bourbon or other spirits.” Before first use, users just need to cure the barrel for three to five days, as mentioned in the included instructions. In addition, Thousand Oaks Barrels carries a full line of wine and beer accessories.
Aervana electric wine aerators cut a unique profile for luxury lovers of wine. Aervana introduces oxygen rapidly by pressurizing the air inside of the bottle and forcing the wine out through the dispenser into the glass. The result is a more mature, rounded taste that gives you the opportunity to experience wine at its finest.
Beautiful serveware is a blank slate that invites the recipient to create something wonderful in the kitchen. The serveware options at AmericasMart highlight lots of rustic designs in wood and stone, as well as a focus on lower gloss and matte finishes.
Introduced in the summer, Just Slate’s signature slate serving boards have been combined with unique copper hangers to create their new, versatile kitchen accessory. The hanging boards are available in teardrop, rectangle, circle and traditional serving board shapes.
Clean contemporary lines, unique handcrafted bread board joinery and a smooth whitewash finish make JK Adams’ Essex collection perfect for entertaining at home or on a retreat. The boards are crafted from sustainably grown and harvested North American Maple. Smaller Monogram Cheese Board Gift Sets are also available with engraved initials, assembled with a wood display with a small store footprint. “Personalization has been huge for us,” says Jon Blatchford, CEO of JK Adams. “We’ve taken the top 16 most popular initials. It’s put together and good to go for the holidays.”
For friends and family with a bit of a morbid sense of humor, Fiesta Dinnerware’s Skull and Vine line is a great gift. Fiesta’s line of dishware with sugar skull patterns over matte black coloring was originally made as a Halloween concept, but has since proven to be a top seller through other seasons. The line ranges between $13.99 and $45.99 per piece.
Based out of Woodstock, Vermont, Farmhouse Pottery is turning out handmade stoneware designed to last a lifetime. The serving boards, bakeware and mugs are glazed with what what Farmhouse Pottery founder Zoe Zillian calls an ‘organic milk glaze.’ The pieces are designed to go from oven to table, and can make a beautiful base for a housewarming gift.
