Home

This 50-year-old nonprofit arts organization recently put its vast library of for‑sale prints, photographs, and posters online. There's an impressive inventory of works by well-known names for surprisingly low sums—perfect for the burgeoning collector who wants to get her hands on a Robert Rauschenberg lithograph, a Kiki Smith woodcut, or a signed Matthew Barney exhibition poster.
foundationforcontemporaryarts.org

This engaging site is dedicated to offbeat gifts with a retro-rustic charm. Its folksy-looking home page groups together items under an inspired theme; at press time, it focused on the great outdoors. For example: dessert plates featuring classic camping imagery (a pup tent, a roaring fire), a teensy bronze hedgehog necklace, knot-tying and learn-to-whittle kits, and a gouache portrait of a coonskin-capped pioneer.
curiosityshoppeonline.com

For the past five years, keen-eyed Londoner Thorsten van Elten has championed maverick young product designers. An early fan of collectives like Established & Son and Qubus Design Studio, he's currently promoting Barnaby Barford (hand-tufted world-map rugs), Arash and Kelly (end tables topped with giant pads of sticky notes), and Dickens & Wilson (simple glass tables with origami-like interlocking steel legs).
thorstenvanelten.com

The owners make frequent trips to Japan to load up on traditional crafts with a modern, functional aesthetic, like a set of plain white ceramic cups with grooves indented on one side to accommodate gripping fingers.

Products: jewelry, books, gifts, decorative, lighting, furniture, tabletop

Tortoise Life

As the name suggests, this home and gift store sells out-of-the-ordinary wares that you never before knew you wanted. Example: an 8-inch tall ceramic night lamp shaped like a Chihuahua with an Elizabeth-ish medical cone around its neck. Unnecessary, yet so necessary.

Products: jewelry, books, gifts, furniture, outdoor, tabletop

Uncommon Goods