Staff Edit!

It's time to discover what goes on in the inner workings of the minds of our BALTIC Shop team! But, don't fret, we're only going in there to find out what gifts we stock that they would recommend! Who better than the people who actually are immersed in these lovely things day in day out (not 24/7, obviously, they are allowed to go home) to highlight the wonderful things you may have missed? Who better to ferret out the must haves for this year, the classics of yesteryear and the 'we quite like these at the moment' of the moment? So we welcome you to the Staff Edit! Which sounds fancy and cool but is mostly our fantastic shop team spending a couple of minutes out of their busy day to hint to family and friends what's on their BALTIC Shop wish list. So meet Anna, Adam, Mhairi, and Alex - delve down deep into their psyche and come out the other side feeling enlightened with gift ideas and ready to continue your shopping journey.

We'll start with the lovely Anna - our queen of accessorising and the pixie haircut! Anna has chosen two of her favourite things - Moomin House Wallet and Circe Earrings...

Moomin House Wallet (£19.95)

 Anna fell for this Moomin wallet as soon as it came into stock thanks to its bright colours and, as a massive lover of Moomins, the fabulous theme! There is also an 'a-door-able' surprise through the door of house as an added charming extra! 

Shop the whole Moomin Collection here!

Circe Hoop Earrings (£24.00)

  As mentioned before, Anna can rock an accessory like a boss and always show cases BALTIC Shop's jewellery ranges whenever she wears them. She works closely with our Head of Retail when it comes to refreshing our accessory offer and was responsible for getting these beauties stocked in the shop! Made by UK jewellery designers Custom Made, these statement hoops are made from acrylic making them comfortable to wear all day and into the evening. And, wouldn't you know, that very evening Anna and her husband happened to be going out for a swanky meal and the earrings made an appearance! And yes, she rocked them!

 Shop the Custom Made Collection Here

Next up is Adam. Adam has worked at BALTIC Shop for almost a year and brings exceptional customer service with sartorial cool. Always with some kind of interesting water on the go and a fan of a good book, Adam has gone for gifts relating to hydration and education and two BALTIC Shop icons!

David Shrigley Everything is Good Stainless Steel Water Bottle (£25.95)

David Shrigley is a BALTIC Shop stalwart so it's not surprise that one of his gifts made the Edit list!

 Let's hear from Adam himself:

 "I really love to drink water! And the more fruit and veg in there the better so this stainless steel water bottle keeps the water cold and the additions fresh throughout the morning. I'm also looking to the positive this year and the illustration, like all the Shrigley stuff, makes me smile. Especially around 6 pm on a Sunday after a busy weekend of work - that's when I need all the positive vibes I can get!"

 Shop our whole Shrigley collection here.

Grayson Perry: The Pre-Therapy Years (£19.95)

Adam sums up why he likes this book much better than we can...

"This is such a visually stunning book and it's great to see all of Perry's early works together and to learn about the stories behind them and a younger Perry. It's a combined biography and photo journal, with a really interesting essay by Perry himself. I love it!"

 Now a hello to Mhairi! A mail order maven who also enjoys being on the BALTIC Shop floor, Mhairi will be leaving us shortly for love and new adventures in Ireland, so we're making the most of her while she's still here! 

Growbars (£11.95)

It's no surprise that Mhairi went botanical in her choices (she's just bought a whole greenhouse for heaven's sake!) but what she likes about giving these as gifts is that they really do work as instructed on the beautifully designed packaging. Gluttonous Gardener have such a great ethos behind their products. As well as the importance of saving the bees, Mhairi has somewhat slightly less altruistic reasons for gifting the Gin Growbar to her mother as can be seen is this little snippet from Mhairi herself:

"My mum made some delicious g&ts last summer for us after growing her Gin Growbar herbs (lemon basil, and a slice of cucumber, yum!)"

Where's our invite, eh?

Bee Enamel Pin (£6.95)

 So here's a little fact we've just learned from putting this blog together - Mhairi's nickname is Bee! So it makes all the more sense that she pinned this little feller onto her lanyard on her first day on the job. Designed in the UK by Rosebud Casson, this beautiful enamel bee is the perfect addition to what we now realise is Mhairi's blatant bee obsession.

Crafty Bitch Socks (£7.95)

What isn't a surprise is that we knew Mhairi was a keen crafter and has been known to spend hours cross stitching of an evening while the rest of us are being wholly less productive. What we didn't know is that she likes to cross stitch while wearing subversive socks. She especially likes this Crafty Bitch pair as they give 'an edge to my crafting asthetic' of all things. She also describes crafters as "a little bit sneaky", but you can take this up with her, these are not necessarily BALTIC Shop's views!

 And last but hardly least is Alex - Artist, Ceramicist, designer of our favourite Bill Murray T-Shirt and dog mum to Olive. Alex is passionate about causes she believes in and her choices from the shop reflect this Alex related activism! She also is responsible for these very cool staff portraits. She has all the skills.

Fantastic Women Card Game (£12.99)

Alex spotted this pack of cards as soon as they come into stock quite recently. Always one to champion the great achievements of great women, Alex also appreciates the fun of some healthy competition, and is partial to a game of top trumps while she's waiting for the Kiln to finish doing its thing! Yes, Alex has an actual Kiln at home. Bet not many people can lay claim to that  home accessory.

 David Shrigley Be Nice Magnet (£8.50)

Like Alex says, it's not rocket science! This choice isn't just about the joys of working in customer service (of which there are many, of course!) but a general plea to the world as a whole during this difficult 2020 - and it's only February! Interestingly this magnet is also by David Shrigley taking a more positive spin on life which is both unusual and welcome at the same time.

We hope you've enjoyed this little insight into our lovely team and BALTIC Shop's gifts that stand out for them. Make sure you visit the whole collection to see some other little treasures in there too.