This holiday season, take a cue from the French cultural critic Roland Barthes and consider the future consequences of the gifts you buy your children. “Toys always mean something,” Barthes once wrote.
Instead of purchasing an unlovingly made G.I. Joe action figure, peruse Pixi & Cie, a shop in Paris’s Left Bank that offers an array of gorgeous, hand-painted metal figurines. Alexis Poliakoff, the head toy-maker, often finds inspiration in European comic books, from Titeuf to Asterix’s best friend, Obelix. Don’t miss their extensive selection of Smurfs, especially this tableau of 48 Smurfs gathering for a family photo. Nearby, in Saint-Germain, L’Oiseau de Paradis, which has offered artisanal toys since 1932, provides a range of Adventures of Tintin figurines. Catch Tintin and his sidekick, Snowy, popping out of a vase while on a spy mission or embarking on a new adventure.
Should your child be an old soul, Au Nain Bleu, a quaint shop near the Tuileries Garden, in Paris, sells some of the best 19th-century-style wood toys, from an excavator to a hand-carved Noah’s Ark. While Seed Factory, in Atlanta, is known for their adorable clothes—like this ecru fleece polar-bear suit—their wood-toy section isn’t to be missed. Their modernist animals, from a peckish goose to a happy fox, are more Brancusi than Mattel.
For the softy, Norman & Jules, in New York City’s baby capital, South Brooklyn, has an array of stuffed bunnies, from Little Nibble, a rabbit with especially floppy ears, to the round-bellied Brownie Roly Poly Bunny. Burro’s kid section, on Abbot Kinney Boulevard, in Los Angeles, has plush dolls in darling dresses your kid will be jealous of. Mini Matilda is especially trendy with her gray linen dress.
If your child is musically gifted, and your patience unmatched, Luna & Curious, in Shoreditch, London, has a wide selection of starter instruments. Let the child experiment with a field drum or this red acoustic guitar. If your kid is still too small for those, this handmade ring rattle will satisfy his or her musical impulses until their growth spurt.
To raise a reader, head to Books of Wonder, a cozy shop in Manhattan’s Chelsea neighborhood that’s dedicated to children’s literature. They sell all the classics, such as If You Give a Mouse a Cookie, as well as collector’s items, like this first edition Winnie-the-Pooh, exciting new picture books, like Hui Li’s Scroll, and recent reissues of treasures like My Very Own Special Particular Private and Personal Cat, by Sandol Stoddard Warburg, with illustrations by Remy Charlip. When they go to college, they’ll be primed to read Barthes and assess the impact of your gifts on their socialization.
Jensen Davis is a Senior Editor at AIR MAIL
