Presenting our inaugural list of the industry’s most inventive and resourceful talents. Get to know Jamie Stone of Gifts by Design (asi/205947).

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There are two kinds of designers in the world: the “I need an .EPS” designers and the “I need an M.C. Escher, but in real life even though it’s geometrically impossible, and I need it by Tuesday” designers. Jamie Stone, president of Seattle-based distributor Gifts By Design is the latter, and has spent nearly 30 years creating one-of-a-kind items that can typically only be found in surrealist Dutch lithographs.

“When a client asks for something they think is impossible, I’ll sketch it out and do some basic construction concepts to see if there’s a way to get it done,” she says. “We design a lot of products that don’t exist until we make them. That was part of the idea behind Gifts By Design: There’s not one perfect solution for everyone. Everything is by design.”

That outside-the-box-and-also-walking-on-the-ceiling outlook comes from Stone’s background as an interior designer, where she spent a decade working with design and architecture firms to create offices and décor for big clients like Nike. Part of that job involved purchasing thank-you gifts and other giveaways for clients. Stone had so much fun working on those promotions that she quit her firm and started the distributorship in 1989.

The union of design expertise and marketing know-how has led to some memorable promotions and unique experiences, including one with a particularly picky client requesting a custom sculpture. “She wanted to actually see the artist working, because she couldn’t decide what she liked unless she saw it,” Stone says. So along with her bronze artist, Stone flew down to the client’s California headquarters for an impromptu sculpting session.

“We did the clay sculpts in a conference room in the office, and the client would come in and say ‘I like this, I don’t like that,’ until we had a design she loved. It was crazy, but it worked.”

How does Stone come up with creative promotions like that? “You need to think about how it’ll be received by the recipient, and how to drive home the message as effectively as you can,” she says. “It doesn’t have to be arty. It could be a journal, but you need to take that journal to the Nth degree. Making a creative promotion means thinking about how to take it to the next level.”

To encourage that kind of abstract thinking, Gifts by Design has nurtured a creative environment to inspire the staff. “Our office has more of a design studio feel with a funky environment, and we’re located in a hip neighborhood in Seattle. It’s not your typical showroom,” Stone says. The dynamic atmosphere is one reason why Gifts By Design has won multiple Best Places to Work awards, and why her team is so proud of the work they do. “All of our projects are displayed in our showroom as though they are art pieces,” Stone says. “The right item, one that really gets across your customer’s message and delivers on their investment, is a work of art.”