How to buy them when you get back home
Why worry about baggage limits when you can order mementos online? Bethan Ryder looks at the trend for holiday homewares
The trouble with buying homeware souvenirs on holiday is the hassle of getting them home – and in one piece. But, thanks to a raft of e-commerce entrepreneurs around the world, you can now buy mementos made by regional artisans and have them sent over once you’re safely back home.
These new e-tailers are tapping into the ongoing obsession with all things local and handcrafted, and their focus ranges from our closer-to-home European neighbours to long-haul destinations in South America.
When Themis Zouganeli launched Themis Z (themisz.com), an elegant online homeware store with pieces inspired by Mykonos, she was looking to export the sunny feel of the South Aegean. Lines include portable items such as linen cushions and porcelain tableware (from £35 for a mug) bearing pared-back Grecian-style decoration in an earthy organic palette
– which can all be passed off as “something I picked up while in the Cyclades” – to a large recycled timber-topped Xenio Zeus table featuring a sculptural marble base.
Stylish and contemporary, Zouganeli’s range is a distinct notch up from rustic taverna crockery and would work in any modern home that likes to bring a unique handcrafted element to their table. “Themis Z is designed to promote a real sense of escape and simplicity. Mykonos has an energy and aura that can’t be found anywhere else in the world. I want these pieces to transport customers back to the islands and away from the stress of everyday life. The clean lines of Greek architecture and Doric style express a feeling of serenity. I think even the shape or structure of a cushion can encourage the mind to travel,” she says.
Similar sentiments drove Sophie Garnier, an independent art adviser and ex-financier, to create Kalinko (kalinko. com), which specialises in
homeware handcrafted in Burma. After holidaying there in 2013, she sent her husband back to “clear his head” and work out his next career move. He returned in 2015 with a job and the pair moved to live in Yangoon. “Exploring Burma really opened my eyes to the array of beautiful products and traditional skills found across the country. I wanted to take them beyond the local market,” Garnier says.
The brand, named after a tribe in north-west Burma, adheres to Fairtrade principles and is selffunded. Handwoven cushions and rattan in natural tones and a range of soft, weathered shades feature highly in the inaugural collection. There are rattan planters (from £15), placemats (£32 for four), laundry baskets and dog beds (from £168).
Another entrepreneur drawing on the craft skills of local tribes is Wilbert Das. The Dutch former fashion designer swapped his creative director role at Diesel for that of “eco-luxe hotelier” in 2009 when he opened Uxua Casa Hotel & Spa in his and many A-listers’ favourite holiday hotspot: the idyllic Bahian fishing village of Trancoso in Brazil. Das already had experience in furniture, having collaborated with Italian brands such as Moroso and Foscarini to launch Diesel’s decor ranges. He says: “Uxua itself grew from a holiday home to a hotel and then an entire rustic design practice, creating local residences based on artisanal and sustainable approaches.”
Having worked with local craftspeople and the Pataxó Indian tribe creating sustainable furniture, textiles and lighting to furnish the hotel’s brightly coloured vernacular casas for years, Das decided to launch Uxua Casa (uxuacasa.com) to sell the pieces online. “I wanted to continue this collaboration with native craftsmen, finding innovative ways to use reclaimed elements and push forward the organic, sustainable design movement.”
Beware – you will need a serious budget to tap into this look. Beautiful batik-like hand-dyed indigo cushions (denim-maestro Das’s expertise includes Japanese dying techniques) are some of the most affordable items, at £190, whereas a range of “native geometry” furniture hewn from eucalyptus branches are priced north of £1,000. But no two pieces are the same. Indeed, you could argue this range crosses the line between furniture and art. The palm-fibre and wicker lamps in bulbous organic forms are more like functional sculptures than light fixtures.
Ditto the “rural modern” range that takes salvaged objects and transforms them into furniture – such as the ox cart reimagined as a two-seater sofa. Meanwhile, others take inspiration from Lina Bo Bardi, the Brazilian modernist architect, with steel incorporated with wood, leather, vine and palm fibres to create one-off seating pieces.
Why stop at promoting the
artisans of one destination, though? That’s what Jessica Macias, another globe-trotting ex-financier seeking to promote local crafts, clearly thought when she co-founded Maison Numen (maisonnumen.com) with Ana Caufman. Although they began with a Latin American focus (a speciality for Macias), showcasing pieces by 35 artisans and designers, they now source from 15 nations and counting.
“We want to promote objects with vitality; with a rich past and a long future ahead. Its design, its culture, its history: they’re all objects with meaning,” explains Macais. Browse the site and you’ll find homeware spans the continents, from bananaleaf serveware by heritage Portuguese brand Bordallo Pinheiro and multi-coloured handblown Parisevetro glassware, to basketry woven by indigenous Yanomami women of the Venezuelan Amazon.
For those staycationing in Britain, perhaps the most appealing item on the site right now is the Chinchorro hammock (£270). Handwoven by Jivi nomads from the Amazon, it might just inspire some escapism between those all-too-familiar British showers.