Expert reveals top tips for buying meaningful holiday souvenirs
I come from a family of committed holiday shoppers. Here’s how I ensure my purchases are true keepsakes not future landfill.
Tourist shops have a bad rep for flogging future landfill, but there’s everything right about wanting to take home a tangible memory of a holiday. I’m the third generation of a family of committed souvenir buyers. I don’t always get it right, but I do have a home full of things I’ve bought on my travels that I love – along with some door handles that would keep my cupboards closed during an earthquake. This is what I’ve learnt along the way.
It doesn’t have to be new
Scandinavia has the best charity shops. Humana, in Sweden, is great for fashion and has outlets in Stockholm, Gothenburg and Malmo. Last year I popped into a Red Cross shop in the Danish town of Vejle with a cousin and we came out with 1960s dresses, mid-century Lundtofte serving dishes and a 1980 Christmas mug from Royal Copenhagen, having spent less than £20 ($41) between us. Flea markets also allow you to buy souvenirs with a pleasing patina and, as a bonus, you’ll be putting money straight into the local economy, but there are caveats: those lovely old tiles you’ve spotted on a stall in Portugal may have been chiselled from a precious old building, so buy from a ceramics shop instead.
Head to a museum
It still blows my mind that in the late 1920s my grandparents were able to buy authenticated antiquities from the Egyptian Museum in Cairo. Back then, selling off surplus shabtis (funerary figurines) was a useful source of income. Museum shops can still deliver something that you and future generations will cherish. The London Transport Museum has mugs, rugs and cushions featuring the moquette seat designs of the various Tube lines, as well as original Elizabeth Line signs. The Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa in Cape Town is good at spotting young designers, including jewellery makers. The shop at the Museum of Modern Art in New York is as much a draw for me as the art on display, particularly the homeware section.
Spend money with care
In Egypt I steel myself as I head past the stalls outside temples and other ancient sites because much of the merchandise they sell is mass-produced and often made in factories where working conditions are poor. The pottery produced by Malaika, however, is made just south of Cairo by a group of artists using clay from the Nile Valley, while the embroidery on its Egyptian cotton bed linen is sewn by women who receive a fair wage and can work from home. You can find Malaika products in shops around Cairo and the Red Sea town of El Gouna, as well as the Oberoi Beach Resort on the bay of Sahl Hasheesh.
Don’t rule out a hotel shop
Time poor with cash to splash? Many smart hotels collaborate with top-notch local designers. Produced in very limited numbers, the leather and canvas bags (€590) that the Passalacqua hotel in Lake Como has produced with Rome-based Chez Dede are extraordinarily desirable, with a 1950s aesthetic likely to stand the test of time. The placemats (1500 rand/$138 for one) woven by Zulu women from telephone and copper wire that are sold by the Singita group of hotels in Africa are utterly stunning. And the £22 tartan swimming caps sold by the Fife Arms at Braemar might get me taking a dip in a tarn one day.
Buy useful things
I’ve been buying my spectacles from Ottica Carraro, near St Mark’s Square in Venice, for more than 20 years. Friends and family may roll their eyes, but the frames are made in the Veneto region and cost £116. For most people it’s a same-day service (I’m so shortsighted that my thinned minus-9 lenses have to come via next-day delivery from Verona). Also, I’m supporting a non-tourism business in a city that can feel overwhelmed by shops catering to visitors. And I’m not alone in my devotion. I’ve spotted fellow wearers of my favourite Venetian style in London and New York. While the optician, Alessandro Carraro, has my details on record and could just send a new pair to me by post, updating my prescription is a great excuse to nip back to one of my favourite cities.
Head to a supermarket
My cupboards contain hot sauce from Grenada and cult orange-topped Angostura bitters from Trinidad. My tumbler-style chatos wine glasses, preferred by Spanish wine bars, cost £2 for four at a Menorcan supermarket. Putting a bottle of that lovely cloudy Greek olive oil into your hold luggage is a no-brainer (but only if border security allows). And those gorgeously designed tins of sardines from Portugal? They stack up beautifully.
Second-suitcase destinations
Some places are particularly good for souvenirs. If you’re into mechanical pencils, adorably cute sticky notes and paperclips in the shape of penguins, Japan has the best stationery in the world, with Hands your one-stop shop. Need a rug? Make buying one part of a holiday to Turkey or Morocco and it will have added meaning. Soufiane Zarib, at the Medina in Marrakech, sources them responsibly. There is also a strong craft tradition on the Indonesian island of Bali, especially around the town of Ubud; I defy anyone to visit Gaya and not buy some ceramics to bring home very carefully in their hand luggage.
You don’t have to spend money
My family still pours gravy from a jug that my parents were given in the 1970s after a meal at Sabatini restaurant in Rome. Two friends of mine have framed paper placemats from Russ & Daughters Cafe in New York; one asked for a pristine one from her server, while the other wanted it to have the crumples and wrinkles that a really good meal will produce (yes, she’s an artist) – both look amazing.
Don’t be too precious
Fridge magnets are fun. Teenagers are programmed to like tat and there’s no point trying to fight it. Plus, they might have the right idea. If it’s raining in Berlin, nip into a tourist shop and buy a see-through umbrella with an “I heart Berlin” design. I did, and years later I still love using it.
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