Made in Western New York
A highly personal gift-giving guide

By Bob Davis
made in
Edward Bisone’s On the Town,
to appear at Art Dialogue.
First, a lesson. Not every Buffalo-ish gift is Buffalo-born. Even a decorative buffalo, or an item emblazoned with a buffalogo, may have been manufactured halfway around the globe. (Reminds me of the American flag I once bought at the Buffalo Historical Museum with a label that that read Made in Japan.) When you buy a Buffalo—or a buffalo—gift, recognize the difference between Buffalo-made and Buffalo-bought.

And leave yourself open to gifts made near enough to Buffalo to count. We’ll tell you about a couple of them in this brief guide. Written, of course, in Buffalo.

The art option.
A locally-created artwork is about as unique as you can get. True, picking out art for somebody else can be a bit tricky, but if you know their tastes, there’s nothing more rewarding than seing your carefully-chosen gift decking your recipient’s walls for years to come.

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Dr. V. Roger Lalli’s
Buffalo: My City prints are available
through www.madeinbuffalo.com.
Western New York galleries make that option very easy for you. Every year in or around December, a number of galleries have what they call “small works” or “members” shows (if they want to be subtle about it), or “gift shows” (if they want to lay it on the line). Art Dialogue, at 1 Linwood Avenue, has the most holiday spirit. They decorate the gallery, serve punch and cookies, and encourage artists to make special works just for the show. In the past, Art Dialogue’s holiday shows have included reasonably priced works by such highly-regarded locally-based artists as Catherine Parker, Joseph Whalen, Gerald Mead, Nancy J. Parisi, Edward Bisone, Rita Argen Auerbach, and many others.

Another gallery that routinely has a small works show priced in the gift range is Buffalo Arts Studio in the Tri-Main Center at 2495 Main Street. Buffalo Arts Studio tends to have a well-chosen group of work by younger artists (with exceptions, of course). It’s worth going to their show just to look at pottery by Bryan Hopkins. He is one of the most interesting artists working in this medium in Western New York and his ceramics are always surprisingly reasonable.
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Buffalo books.
Given any good books lately? Here are a few hometown tomes worthy of any collection or coffee table. Great Lake Effects, a cookbook, mixes recipes with facts about Buffalo, New York, by the Junior League of Buffalo and watercolors of historic landmarks by Margaret Martin. Classic Buffalo, by Richard Reisem and Andy Olenick (Canisius College Press), celebrates local architecture in significant buildings, residences, structures, sculpture, and gardens of Buffalo. Headlines and History, published by the Buffalo News, is a rich collection of, well, headlines and history.

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Two recent entries that belong to the coffee table category are Laurie Watters’ beautiful A Year in Chautauqua (Park Bench Press) which portrays Chautauqua as a place to live in, not just an institution, season by season. Watters is a celebrated photographer who has also recently published a magnificent book on Central Park. Another closer-to-home commemorative book is Ellen Taussig’s illustrated history of the Erie County Fair, Reflections of America’s County Fair, 1841-2000, published by the Erie County Agricultural Society. This is a serious history, as well as a treasure trove of archival photography from Fairs past.

The unofficial Mr. Buffalo.
Imagine this: you open a magazine or travel around the world, and you see people wearing clothing with buffaloes on it, clothing you designed, clothing you sell. That’s what it’s like to be Michael Margulis. His colorful shirts, mugs, posters, and other merchandise are probably the most popular Buffalo designs of all. And with good reason. Margulis isn’t just a guy who slaps buffaloes on merchandise; he is a tasteful and talented designer who happens to like the beasts. His made-in-Buffalo clothing and gifts are available at Thunder Bay, or at his own shop on Lexington Avenue.
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Michael Margulis surrounded by his
prints at his new Lexington Avenue digs.
Easy, last-minute shopping.
There’s a simple way to get and send made-in-Buffalo gifts, and that’s to shop online at madeinbuffalo.com. There you’ll find locally made art, music, books, gifts, cookies, candy, health and beauty supplies (does a made-in-Buffalo tongue cleaner count as a gift?), and food. Lots of food. All delicious, all a quick click to a quick ship. In fact, many of the items mentioned in this article are available through this resource.

For those of us who can’t quite decide which gifts to buy, madeinbuffalo.com will send a complete gift box or basket. Of the site, President Dominick Bordonaro says, “We’re proud to help local and regional manufacturers promote their goods outside the local area.”

Even though madeinbuffalo.com an easy way to send made-in-Buffalo gifts—they’ll even ship out a Bocce’s pizza—don’t forget the personal touch. Visit local galleries who sell work by local artisans. Tour Meyer Brothers’ cider mill. Take in a local concert and take home a CD. Some personal favorites are the McClurg Family Singers, Jeff Hackworth, Bobby Milatello, Emil Latimer and Abundance, and the Al Tinney Trio with Peggy Farrell.

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A madeinbuffalo.com gift package.
Eat, eat.
Every time my mom flies to Phoenix, she packs Broadway Market Polish sausage for my brother. Food is, as everyone knows, the perfect gift from a Jewish mother. Or from anyone else, for that matter. Who doesn’t like to eat? Especially favorite foods from Western New York.

You can send the stuff. Or you can invite everybody back home and serve a help-yourself, made-in-Buffalo feast of pasta with sauce from Chef’s or Ilio DiPaolo’s, Chiavetta’s BBQ Chicken (are you getting hungry?), meats from Mineo & Sapio or Sahlen’s or Wardynski, topped with Weber’s mustard. Don’t forget the salad, with Olympic restaurant Greek dressing. You’ll want some Paula’s Pierogis, of course. While you’re at it, pass some Aunt Rosie’s Loganberry Drink.

Sweet tooth? Take your pick: Candy from Kelly’s Country Store or Fowlers or Barb’s Sweet Treats or Watson’s. Rainbow Pops or Suckers from the Crystal Beach Candy Company (I know, but that part of Canada kind of counts as Buffalo). Murphy Orchards jams and jellies. Perry’s ice cream. Anderson’s Custard. Why, I ask you, would anyone leave Buffalo?

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Cookies.
Cookies, as far as I’m concerned, are in a category of their own. One of life’s essential elements. (I informed my nutritionist that, no matter what she said, I would not give up chocolate chip cookies. Her advice: eat a good one. Slowly.)

We all know and love Di Camillo Bakery. Ditto Quaker Bonnet. But don’t forget the fabulous cookies at Carriage Trade Pastries, Dolci Specialty Bakery, or Romeo’s Café. Or your corner baker, for that matter, if you’re lucky enough to have one. (If not, move.) Cookie Expressions sends cookie bouquets, and at Grandma’s Creative Cookies, Grandma Kathy Hafner will create custom cookies for you. You’re welcome.
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Light Up Their Lives
Here’s another utterly unique homegrown gift:

Many Spree readers are probably familiar with the work of Luminated Landscapes, a local company that can add dramatic effects to domestic environs. Recently, however, the company has opened a storefront in East Aurora, where they will sell more scaled-down effects, such as this lovely “Serenity” garden light fixture, made of hand-blown glass and a copper stem, with low voltage lighting, A bit over two feet high, these fixtures/sculptures can be custom designed with different shapes and colors.

Kittinger Furniture.
What you should know about Kittinger Furniture is this: the craftsman dovetailing your drawer may by the same fellow who built a table for the White House. If you’re inclined to furnish a friend With furniture from Kittinger, I certainly hope you’ll consider me your friend. In appreciation, I’ll select a relatively modest piece. A simple sideboard, or a standup desk. Perhaps their new keepsake box, thank you very much. It’ll be made by hand, of course, to my specifications, and passed down to the grandchildren we’ll someday have.

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Another historic and unique Western New York product is Roycroft China. The Buffalo China Company (now owned by the Oneida Corporation) made the original china for the Roycroft Inn 100 years ago, and has recreated those styles and patterns exclusively for the Roycroft Shops.

Celebrate Buffalo architecture
Bring landmarks like the Martin House, the Central Terminal, and the Richardson towers into the homes of your friends and loved ones through prints and photography. Celebrated local watercolorist Dr. V. Roger Lalli sells very reasonable limited edition prints of his “Buffalo-My City” paintings through madeinbuffalo.com, while a host of talented local photographers have great shots of Buffalo buildings available. For example, CEPA Gallery currently is offering some lovely details of the Martin House by Biff Henrich, while College Street Gallery owner Mike Mulley has a huge array of shots of Buffalo landmarks available framed and unframed.

There are many more incredible nooks and crannies of hometown talent to mine for unique gifts—far too many to list here. Seek them out. Your loved ones will applaud you for your creativity and your boosterism.

Bob Davis is president of Wizard Designs and is a full-time business writer.
Elizabeth Licata (Buffalo Spree editor) contributed to this article.


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