Holiday gifting is a hard art to perfect. But over the hundreds of years since the concept was invented, we only seem to be getting worse at it. Americans throw away a staggering $230 billion dollars worth of unwanted presents per household every holiday period, only keeping about 50% of their total haul, and that doesn’t include all un-recycled wrapping paper. (Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg probably knows more about your taste in sweaters than you do.) If there’s a silver lining to celebrating the holidays in the age of social distancing, it’s that we’re finally learning to reimagine flawed systems. Charity gifts have become increasingly popular over the past couple of years, with newlywed couples no longer making headlines for putting 1,000 goats on their registries, and the COVID pandemic has further driven a wedge between what matters (people, the environment, the arts) and special-occasion grapefruit spoons.
Photographers Inez and Vinoodh have just launched a new gifting platform that challenges the Christmas-Industrial Complex and harnesses cash for a cause. The cleverly named Double Dutch, co-founded with Kidfund, allows you to send loved ones artist-created digital cards with a charitable donation attached for the recipient to ‘unlock.’ Alongside curator Francesco Bonami, the duo has selected work by legends like Cindy Sherman, Derrick Adams, Sterling Ruby, Marilyn Minter, Jamie Reid, Richard Prince, Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari, Urs Fischer, and William Wegman, as well as from emerging talents like Langley Fox, Tyson Johnson, and one Gigi Hadid.
Charities were selected with a focus on the environment and crisis relief, and include Knot on my Planet, OutRight Action International, Save The Music Foundation, Parley for the Oceans, and COVID-19 Solidarity Response, among others. Check out all the artist cards and charity partners here.
