Souvenirs – Green Bottle Tree

Where to go to channel your inner Parisian – Paris flea market (Marché aux Puces)

Design, Europe, France, Souvenirs, Travel / Karina

What do you imagine when you hear “flea market”? Overpriced tat, hoards of people pushing and shoving, dusty crockery, trestle tables sagging under miscellaneous car boot/jumble sale type stuff, bacon butties and polystyrene cups of tea, furniture with woodworm, broken electrics, old plugs, poor quality “art” and nothing of value OR antiques, furniture worthy of […]

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Romanian pottery – 7000-year-old design looking modern today

Design, Europe, Romania, Souvenirs, Travel / Karina

How is it possible that a form of pottery and its design from up to 7000 years ago can be recreated in the 21st century and seem modern? This Romanian Cucuteni-Trypillia-style dish was made in Cucuteni in 2018 to pottery-making methods and design dating back to somewhere between 5200 BC and 2750 BC. Cucuteni is

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Oman – how to use frankincense without the need for dragons

Middle East, Oman, Souvenirs, Travel / Karina

To my unrefined nose it’s a load of romantic nonsense when people enthuse about the air of their holiday destination being scented with blah, blah or blah. I can appreciate the odd waft of flowers, baking, wet soil, etc, but not with every step taken inside and out. Oman, however, is the exception where my

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Sicilian ceramic heads with a gruesome past

Design, Europe, Italy, Souvenirs, Travel / Karina

If I were to play word association linking Sicily with souvenirs, the immediate follow-on would be “heads”. Glazed ceramic heads of a (Moorish) man and a (Sicilian) woman are as everywhere as everywhere means when you’re exaggerating an otherwise valid generalisation. Unsurprisingly, there is a story behind the heads and, equally unsurprisingly, there are variations

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India – The discovery of £3 jewellery

Asia, Design, Fashion, India, Souvenirs, Travel / Karina

Having spent around two months in India over the past year, it has proved impossible to maintain my avoidance of the numerous stalls selling bangles, necklaces and earrings. Prior to my India trips, I had only rarely worn one bangle, maybe once every five years a pair of earrings and only occasionally a few of

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Luch watches – Made in Belarus

Belarus, Design, Souvenirs / Karina

How many people in the UK have a “Made in Belarus” watch? I’m thinking not many. Luch is a Belarusian watchmaker based in Minsk, nowadays 80% owned by Franck Muller, whose Swiss watches are both complicated and exclusive (ie expensive). I particularly like the old fashioned/classic/retro look of some of the watches. Mine is the

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