Vacationing in the moment: The art of selective SOUVENIR-ing
Vacation season has arrived and our team loves to travel. We’ve been thinking of our clients traveling all over the world, especially during the summer months. Are you wondering whether you should bring back souvenirs from your trip? Purchasing souvenirs can be tricky.
Here are a few keys to remember when picking up travel treats:
Bring home culinary delights or a fashion piece to be worn for years to come. Can you find a fabulous piece of art to bring home while on vacation? Absolutely. But it helps to have a curatorial eye to find the diamond in the rough.
Savor what you love and don’t fret over whether it will work with your décor. The decision to buy or not to buy changes as we grow older. We learn to live with less and no longer desire to hold onto items that just take up space. There has to be passion and purpose for what we bring into our homes.
On the other hand, many of us are collectors who value certain objects. It could be something our families enjoy collecting. It might be something we discover on one of our trips, providing an opportunity to explore accouterments completely new to us. Pictured below is artwork that a client found while on a trip to Europe, now prominently displayed in the dining room.
Travel opens our eyes to the people, food, and art native to other places. Some of our favorite pieces have come from our travel adventures. Something as simple as a funky, natural woven grass hat from a tropical island, left in view upon your return, can bring back pleasant memories and ignite interesting conversations. Every place you go has its own special treats and treasures, like Thyme Honey from Crete, Delftware from Amsterdam, or a Venetian Mask from Venice. What does one bring home from San Miguel de Allende? — a favorite destination of ours.
CURATING TRAVEL TREASURES
Once you have your print or sculpture or doodad at home -- what do you do with it? Just because you display something, it doesn’t mean you have to display it forever. Or even leave it in the same spot forever.
Playing around with our living environments “sparks joy” - to use Marie Kondo’s expression. “Like an interesting painting, interiors are never really finished, they just stop in interesting places,” Dane says. “ They change and evolve with us, as we evolve.” Travel provides an avenue for growth and change.
We can make room for our new travel treasures. Part of good design and well-being is knowing what to edit and when to clear out the clutter. Donate the items you’ve outgrown or feel you’ve loved long enough. Perhaps it’s time for someone else to love them?
Are you curious what treasures we collected during our travels to San Miguel de Allende? The answer: beautiful, hand-painted platters. They’re sure to spark fun-filled conversations about a magical city when entertaining loved ones.
