Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. This week, we’ve turned it into a Mother’s Day gift guide, with recommendations on what we’re coveting for ourselves and considering for our maternal figures. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@nytimes.com.
Rule the Roost
Upgraded Bird Houses
When I was growing up in Georgia, my mother and grandmother always kept a hummingbird feeder perched alongside the deck. They’d fill it with a simple sugar-water mixture to attract the buzzy visitors and call me over whenever one paused for a sip at the feeder’s tip (which was colored red to mimic nectar-rich flowers). Invite that same sense of wonder by gifting Gardenheir’s blown-glass version, available in clear or a multicolored tint. Other design-conscious items that will welcome birds include the New York brand Dusen Dusen’s recently released hand-painted bird house, available in both autumnal tones and vibrant stripes to enliven the backyard. Spring Road Nursery’s peak nest box — handmade from mixed hardwood by the artist Clayton Pledger, who specializes in crafting acoustic guitars in Vermont — blends right into bark and attracts black-capped chickadees, a species common in North American forests. And the more minimalist Koti ceramic birdhouse, made to order in a Portuguese workshop, mounts neatly to the wall and features a lightly textured interior for birds to easily climb and comfortably nest.
— Mackenzie Oster
Natural Selection
An Array of Earthy Indulgences
For the mother who prefers AllTrails over Instagram, composting over consumption, there are still a few wholesome yet stylish items that might make her wish list. No day can be seized on an empty stomach, and a grain-free, “high-vibration” granola mix from Portland, Maine’s Ethereal Cereal offers a savory blend of nuts, seeds and dried wild blueberries. A foraging expedition might call for a sturdy slip-on like the Maggiore from Diemme, made in Veneto from Italian suede with a thick rubber sole ideal for the forest floor. A four-compartment, reusable recycling pouch from the Swedish mountaineering stalwart Klättermussen will ensure she leaves no trace. Activist’s bar soap, which boasts antimicrobial properties thanks to manuka honey (the star ingredient in all the products from the California-and-New Zealand-based brand), makes for an all-natural shower companion, and a Chubby Mycelium planter handcrafted in Valencia, Spain, by the designer Tina Vaia using her signature marble-clay, will beckon to any green thumb. Or to complement a homemade Mother’s Day brunch, order vegan caviar from Pearle, a company that uses seaweed to create a sustainable and cruelty-free alternative to the original.
— Natalia Rachlin
When Rachael Petach was six months pregnant and uninspired by the nonalcoholic options available to her, she started crafting cordials. Two years later, she launched C. Cassis, a line of black currant aperitifs made in Rhinebeck, N.Y. The brand now offers two booze-free spirits: one infused with raw honey, citrus rind and botanicals like green cardamom and lemon verbena, ideal for zero-proof cosmos, Negronis and kir royales; and a canned seltzer called Cassisi, to mix into spritzes or simply sip. Mother Root, a bracing aperitif from London, forgoes alcohol in favor of apple cider vinegar, blossom honey, ginger and capsicum extract for heat — a combination that’s as gut-friendly as it is complex. Its origin story echoes that of C. Cassis: Mother Root’s founder, Bethan Higson, a wine world veteran, began developing it while she was expecting, wanting to create something layered and satisfying for people who can’t or don’t drink. For an aperitif that celebrates fruit at its peak, look to the Los Angeles-based Balo, made by Balo Orozco, a chef and fruit-obsessed fermentation specialist whose shrub mixers and sodas come in flavors from melon and satsuma mandarin to concord grape, lime and guava leaf.
— Emily Wilson
For the gardener returning to her plot this spring, consider a book that will plant new ideas. In “Flower Power,” the Australian landscape designer Jac Semmler shares her guide for creating layered, resilient gardens that blossom across climates and seasons. Pair the book with a seed mix from Salmon Creek Farms, a nonprofit arts commune and farm in the redwoods of Mendocino, Calif. Its new blend draws from 28 varieties of flowers, greens and grains to emulate the more haphazard designs of nature. For those interested in a slightly more disciplined approach, Phaidon’s coffee table book “The Kitchen Garden” showcases whimsical edible gardens around the world, from Scotland to Singapore. It would go nicely with a selection of seed varieties from the 100-year-old company Kitazawa, which specializes in Japanese vegetables and herbs. For mothers with a sociological interest in the world of gardens, the British writer Olivia Laing’s “The Garden Against Time” weaves memoir and cultural analysis about gardening to explore the concept of paradise, while the historian Kate Brown’s “Tiny Gardens Everywhere,” published in February, traces the historical evolution of urban gardening as a practice.
— Hannah Kofman
Generational Gems
Jewelry Made by Mother-Daughter Teams
Jewelry is a reliable choice for Mother’s Day; set your gift apart by getting a piece that’s created by collaborative mothers and daughters. The Los Angeles-based company Monbouquette, founded by Jenny and Lily Monbouquette, creates pieces with a sense of play and movement, like these enamel color-blocked earrings that can be transformed from two to three cascading squares. Maria Dueñas Jacobs, the founder of the New York-based brand Super Smalls, says her three daughters, Luna, 12, and Isa and Silvi, both 10, serve as her most trusted sounding boards, helping shape designs like these colorful jewelry sets for both children and adults that channel the joy of dress up. The Athens-based line Ysso, led by Alexia Karides and her mother, Stalo, draws on the natural beauty of Greece with bronze pieces, like this beaded blue jade necklace adorned with a sea urchin pendant, that are gold plated in a family-run foundry just outside the city. In Connecticut, Brinker and Eliza Higgins began by making jewelry for friends before turning their shared hobby into a business; their handmade pieces carry subtle references to the sea, like this vintage gold-plated chain necklace with fish charms in labradorite and smoky quartz, and huggie earrings with dangling lapis floral drops. Gigi Clozeau, who’s based in Montpellier, France, has jewelers on both sides of her family: Her brand sells beaded bracelets inspired by the one her father made for her when she was an infant; they’ve now been reimagined in beachy hues by Clozeau and her mother, Marie. And at the New York-based brand Of Rare Origin, Leslie Techeyan works alongside her daughters, Octavia and Thea Giovannini-Torelli, on whimsical designs inspired by family history, including a necklace with a hand-carved coral disc that recalls sunflower fields in southern Italy.
— Angela Koh
Pair a spring bouquet or a labored-over meal with pottery designed to last awhile. The interior stylist Martin Bourne had his upstate New York garden in mind while developing a collection of one-off ceramics with the artist Kay Schuckhart’s line, Furbelow & Bibelot. She shaped the clay, replicating the wonky sensibility of his paper maquettes; he hand-painted the glazes in shades like mustard or rust, as seen on their Delft-style flower brick. The British lifestyle brand Toast spotlights a range of techniques in its New Makers series, an annual program that supports emerging talents with mentorship and a retail platform. The London artist Hannah Watts etches into clay using a method called sgraffito, resulting in platters influenced by African textiles. Linnan Ye, a Shanghai native based in San Francisco, draws on her architectural background for her wheel-thrown pieces, including a cinched vase and a matcha set, while Yuichi Romita, who studied in Japan and lives in Malmo, Sweden, makes unglazed, wood-fired vessels in streamlined forms. For an expressionist set of dishes, look to the new collaboration between the California-and-Pennsylvania-based interior designer Leanne Ford and Il Buco Vita — the home-goods sister shop to the Manhattan restaurant Il Buco — whose Montegranaro splatterware now comes in a black-and-cream glaze on Italian terra cotta. (It launches May 15 — a gift worth the wait.) The monochromatic palette is a through line in Ford’s work. “I keep everything in this color story because then the different textures and shapes get to star,” she says.
— Laura Regensdorf
Dealer’s Choice
Card Decks to Prompt Conversation
A deck of cards has long fostered connection, but if your mom is anything like mine, it can also lead to fierce competition. When you’d rather stoke conversation, try a different type of card game: This week, Spread the Jelly — a platform dedicated to documenting the many dimensions of motherhood — launches its first one, the Sticky Stuff. The illustrated 152-card deck features thought-provoking prompts and questions like, “What kind of person do you want to be on the hard days?” and “Describe your perfect Saturday morning 10 years from now.” For a more action-oriented approach, the artist and illustrator Carissa Potter’s Excuses to Celebrate pack offers 30 suggestions to enliven every day, from dunking your face in an ice bath to checking what fruit is in season. For the mom who delights in cooking, each card in the Food Stories deck, designed by the artist Abby Houston, poses eating-related queries, such as “What has food taught you about love?” and “If you had to legally change your name to a food, what would it be and why?”
— Mackenzie Oster
