My Favorite Thing Series and Giveaway

In a new feature on Dwell.com, we’d like to celebrate these domestic gems, not for their function or value, necessarily, but because of what they mean as part of a personal space. We invite you to participate in the new series by submitting your favorite things to us and sharing them with the Dwell community.

Here's how to do it: Take a few clear snapshots of your favorite object and send them to us at giveaway[at]dwell[dot]com with the subject line "My Favorite Thing." Please include a concise description (200-300 words) of what the item is, where you got it, and why you hold it near and dear. We'll be posting a selection of the submissions on Dwell.com, and by submitting, your name will also be entered into our Favorite Things drawing and giveaway. At the end of the month, we'll draw one winner to receive a beautiful set of four Jessica Rust plates. If you'd like to be entered for the giveaway, be sure to submit your email by February 27!

The Dwell editors will be sharing our favorite things on the blog while we await your stories and photographs. I'll kick things off. My grandfather made this lamp in the mid-1950s. My mom remembers my grandma gifting him with his first lathe—a Shopsmith, counter-height and about 5 or 6 feet long—which they hid in the guest shower until his birthday. He used it to make many pieces of their furniture, and I remember this lamp forever sitting atop a side table next to the couch in their living room. The bulbous shape gives it a nice sense of weight against which the slender neck provides a lovely balance. When you get up close you can see the scallop-like detailing of the various woods he combined to craft the piece.

Dentist by trade but tinkerer at heart, my grandpa was a true Renaissance gentleman: his paintings adorned the walls of my grandparents’ home, he made jewelry, wrote poetry, loved playing pool, always wore a hat that he never failed to remove in the presence of a lady, and could toast a mean cheddar and bacon sandwich. It’s nice to have his handiwork around, adding light to my life.

Stay tuned, as Dwell editor Aaron Britt tells us about his small statue from Senegal, associate editor Miyoko Ohtake shares the secrets from within a box from Jerusalem, editor Sarah Rich recounts the lengths she went to to hold onto a sofa she bought on the sidewalk for $100, and designer Arik Levy admires the beauty of a dried pomegranate. Don't forget to send in your favorite things, too, and enter to win the Jessica Rust plate giveaway!

Email giveaway[at]dwell[dot]com, subject line: My Favorite Thing by February 27. You may continue submitting your favorite things after the giveaway is over for consideration of coverage on Dwell.com.