Two Kinds Of Photo Gift, And How To Tell Which You Need

The shelf gift and the pocket gift

Almost every photo gift we make falls into one of two families. The shelf gift is a figurine: it stands on a base, it is looked at from across a room, and it is usually the thing that survives a house move. The pocket gift is a keychain or charm: it is small, it takes a beating, and it is seen by other people all day long.

Both are made from the same photograph, in the same full-color resin — printed layer by layer, with the colour inside the material. The difference is not quality. It is where the object lives.

Matching the gift to the person

• Choose the shelf gift for someone with a desk, a shelf, a windowsill or a mantelpiece — and for the gifts you want to be seen at home rather than explained in public.
• Choose the pocket gift for someone who travels, commutes, drives, or keeps losing tiny things — and for the moment when the gift has to be small enough to hide in a card.
• Choose the pocket gift for teenagers and for colleagues. Choose the shelf gift for parents, partners and anyone who is sentimental about a specific corner of their house.

What changes between the two

On a figurine the expression and the outfit carry the whole piece, so the pose matters most. On a keychain there is far less surface area: the silhouette, the hair shape and one distinctive detail do all the work. That is why we will sometimes suggest cropping a photo tighter for a charm than we would for a figurine — and why a face that reads well at six centimetres is worth more than a beautiful photo that does not.

You are allowed to order both

Plenty of customers start with the figurine for the shelf and then add a keychain so the same photo can leave the house. Both come from the same approved design proof, so there is no second setup and no second approval round.