Travel souvenirs are a quintessential part of the holiday experience for holidaymakers in the UK; after all, how else will you know you’ve been somewhere without bringing back the novelty fridge magnet?
Souvenirs are a ubiquitous part of the popular holiday and a regular fixture in resorts and tourist destinations – but naturally, souvenirs are far more than just the keyrings and stationery items you can buy from airport giftshops and main street kiosks.
They’re also difficult to know what to do with when you finally return home. So here, we’ll answer both questions: why do we collect souvenirs, and how on earth do we display them?
Travel Souvenirs, and Why We Collect Them
Souvenir entered the English lexicon in the 18th century, a loanword from the French language. In French, a souvenir is an infinitive verb meaning ‘to remember, but in English is used as a noun to describe an object or artifact acquired elsewhere – a token by which to remember the trip in years to come.
Describing what a travel souvenir is, is easy enough, and describing why we buy them is simpler still on the face of it. Human memory is a fickle thing, and even memories of a life-changing trip can only last for so long.
But a physical object attributed to that trip, whether a tacky plastic item emblazoned with the name of your destination or an artisanal piece from a local maker, can open the floodgates to these memories – or at least exist as a small reminder of the simple fact that you were there. But something deeper might also be happening here.
Collecting is part of our DNA as humans and stretches back long before the pilgrimages to Jerusalem in 500AD – perhaps the birthplace of the modern souvenir, as visitors took archaeological items to prove their visit – to our days as hunter-gatherers.
How to Display Your Travel Souvenirs
Another hangover from the earliest days of finding keepsakes, from saber tooths to Big Ben bottle-openers, is figuring out exactly how to store and display these items of import.
Their purpose is to remind you of better times, not to be hidden away! Of course, there are a number of unique and interesting ways you can display your trappings without falling into the trap of loading up your mantelpiece.
Firstly, textiles are an incredibly common kind of travel souvenirs to acquire, especially if you’ve visited the wonders of Marrakesh’s markets – or even of Camden’s markets. Textiles can be re-purposed as wall hangings, giving your walls texture as well as a personal, commemorative touch.
If you’d rather not hang your textiles quite so permanently, you can drape them over the door of your fitted wardrobe, or otherwise incorporate it by hanging it on the inside so you can look at it every morning.
Objects and artifacts can only really find a home on surfaces – but grouping them all together onto a souvenir shelf can be cluttering and overwhelming. Instead, try to use your existing furniture to host various items throughout the space.
Different artifacts might enhance different aesthetics; an incense bowl might be better placed in your living room than your kitchen. This way, they can stand apart from each other and enhance each room in turn.
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