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10 Great Etsy Shops You Need to Know

By Kate Pruitt (from Design Sponge) on January 4, 2012

Just in case you haven't heard, Etsy is awesome, and is rapidly becoming my favorite place to do all of my online shopping. With so many sellers and goods available on the site, however, it can be a little overwhelming to try and find the best stuff. I've rounded up a list of ten Etsy shops you do not want to miss. These sellers all maintain clean, curated, well stocked shops, and provide some unusual items you can't find anywhere else. While it's always fun to browse Etsy and to scope out your friends favorites, when you need to get a great gift in a rush or you just want to head directly to some awesome vintage and home decor, artwork, paper goods, and textiles, I highly recommend a visit to the shops on this list. Enjoy!

These are my personal favorites, but I know there are tons of great options I've missed. For all you online shopping fans out there: what are some of your favorite Etsy shops?

Junglai: This Etsy shop features geometric shelving in gorgeous rustic finishes. The shapes can stand alone or combine in various ways to create dramatic wall storage that double as art. The prices are reasonable, so this shop can be a great place to turn for gifts as well as for decking out your own pad.

Ethan Ollie: Shopping for vintage wares can be a real hit-and-miss operation, but you can always turn to Etsy to find a curated, high quality selection. Ethan Ollie is one of the best selections I've seen. Kim Ludy, the woman behind the shop, has an expert eye for unusual objects, and a great sense for how to style them in an interior. She's also available for product styling and prop rentals, making her a great resource for editorial work.

Up In the Air Somewhere: This shop stocks some of my favorite ceramics and home accessories. These pieces have an organic touch and a lovely art-deco inspired palette. Whenever I'm looking for gifts, I head here first, and usually find the perfect thing in no time!

Skinny Laminx: Skinny Laminx might be one of the best known Etsy shops, but all the attention it gets is well deserved, believe me. The shop is run by artist Heather Moore and is based in Cape Town, South Africa. Heather's keen eye for colors and ability to translate her mid-century inspired illustrations into strong, graphic repeat patterns makes her one of my favorite textile designers working today. The fabrics are so gorgeous, and in addition to looking great on smaller items such as tea towels and pillows, they also look spectacular on a larger scale as upholstery fabric for dining chairs, loveseats, and even full size sofas.

AM Radio: This Etsy shop is another great resource for unique vintage items that would fit perfectly into a modern, stylish home. In addition, however, AM Radio sells one-of-a-kind handmade Himmeli inspired mobiles (center image above). Inspired the a traditional Finnish Christmas craft, these mobiles have a modern geometric feel, and look stunning hanging in front of a wall or window, or tucked in a corner of a room. I like to check in on this shop constantly to see what new treasures have arrived.

Bookhou at Home: Arounna Khounnoraj creates beautiful, modern prints which she uses on bags, linens, scarves, and other textiles. Bookhou wares are all made from simple, high quality materials and feature timeless designs.

Miles of Light: Calling all nature lovers! Miles of Light is an amazing resource for nature and botanical photographic prints, accessories, and paper goods. With a simple, clean, Scandinavian style aesthetic and gorgeous crisp photography and illustrations, Miles of Light is the perfect go-to shop for the nature lovers in your life.

A Little Hut: One great aspect of Etsy is that you have access not only to vintage items and handmade goods, but also DIY kits, materials, and projects that allow you to flex your own creative muscles. A Little Hut is a great example of this trend, offering designs in SVG or PDF file formats for easy digitized cutting at very low prices. The patterns are great for creating your own party decor, gift boxes, wedding decor, or artwork, and once you have the file you are free to customize and scale as you please.

Leah Duncan: Leah Duncan's illustrations are extremely versatile; her painterly patterns translate beautifully to the variety of goods she sells--pillows, prints, calendars, tea towels, and more. Her 2012 calendar has made a splash on the internet recently, and with good reason. The twelve loose pages each feature an original print by Leah, and the set can be reused as artwork when the year is done.

Rough South Home: A lot of people don't think of looking to Etsy for furniture, but the site is actually full of shops selling beautiful vintage and handmade furniture. Rough South Home is one of my favorite places to find industrial style pieces that are all crafted from salvaged materials.

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Design*Sponge is a daily blog dedicated to the creative life. Since its founding in 2004, Design*Sponge has grown to cover a wide range of topics. In addition to hosting a yearly scholarship for student designers, artists, Design*Sponge published both its first newspaper and book this year, Design*Sponge at Home, which ended with a 30-city book tour that raised money for local arts charities across the country. The website currently has over 75k daily readers and 370k Twitter followers. Kate Pruitt is a senior editor for D*S. After working as a retail display artist for several years, she joined the D*S team as a weekly DIY contributor in 2009. Her work has been featured in various print publications, including ReadyMade, New York Magazine, Country Living and The San Francisco Chronicle. She currently resides in California with her boyfriend and their inadvertently diabolical cat, JFK.

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