Tikoli tea towels make cool gifts.

I know I’ve told you that my sister is an amazing writer,¹ and I think it’s pretty clear that she’s an amazing person overall, but have I mentioned lately that she’s also an amazing designer? I’d like to take the opportunity to direct your attention to some of her über-cool new tea towel designs at Tikoli.

I really love this one she calls kern, an elegant pattern which reminds me of stones. I particularly like how it coordinates with the fun swirly vortex of harmonie. She’s got two more new designs, as well, which you can see on the Tikoli website along with the established ones. (There are 9 mix-and-match designs now, in all.)

Kern (left) and harmonie (right), two new designs from Tikoli.

I know I’ve said it before, but these tea towels make very thoughtful gifts. They are earth-friendly, as they can be used for many purposes in place of disposable paper goods, and they come with minimal packaging. They are both compact and functional, which are two criteria that I like to use when choosing gifts. (I’ve found myself more and more turned off by the bulky, over-packaged and largely useless items that are so frequently marketed as gifts.) To top all that off, they are distinctive and very pleasing to the eye.

What’s more, there is a promotion going on right now to get 20% off purchases from the Tikoli online store if you order by Monday, December 20, 2010.² (Just use the promotion code MERRY20 .) You know what else is cool? Right now, giftwrapping is free. It is also very festive.

(You can also look for Tikoli towels at a retailer near you, but the discount won’t apply there.)

Images from tikoli.

¹ She can be pretty damn funny, too.
² If you want gifts to arrive in time for Christmas, you need to order by midnight tonight, though.