SOUVENIR

SHOP  🌎



Location contributes an immense amount to how we grow up, develop and feel in the world. It shapes culture, behavior and preferences for everyone, everywhere. Although we don't necessarily choose where we grow up, we carry the lessons learned from those places throughout our entire lives. As we travel and explore the world, we see how different people communicate and live their lives - it opens our minds to things that we never thought were possible. As travel has been limited during the current era, we have felt more deeply the importance of our own homes and craved to get out into the world again and experience other places. All this to say, location plays a significant role in our lives.

Souvenirs are physical objects that often represent places or memories but often fall short of encapsulating the essence of a location. The prompt was to elevate the souvenir through storytelling, process, materiality etc. How can the souvenir be rethought, simplified or enhanced?

Please enjoy our presentation of the Souvenir Shop.



SOUVENIR SHOP 🌎


Location contributes an immense amount to how we grow up, develop and feel in the world. It shapes culture, behavior and preferences for everyone, everywhere. Although we don't necessarily choose where we grow up, we carry the lessons learned from those places throughout our entire lives. As we travel and explore the world, we see how different people communicate and live their lives - it opens our minds to things that we never thought were possible. As travel has been limited during the current era, we have felt more deeply the importance of our own homes and craved to get out into the world again and experience other places. All this to say, location plays a significant role in our lives.

Souvenirs are physical objects that often represent places or memories but often fall short of encapsulating the essence of a location. The prompt was to elevate the souvenir through storytelling, process, materiality etc. How can the souvenir be rethought, simplified or enhanced?

Please enjoy our presentation of the Souvenir Shop.

Mexico City, a city where I've spent a large part of my childhood and a place I deeply miss during these times. Inspired by visiting pre-Columbian ruins and seeing ancient museum collections of indigenous objects, it seemed fitting to use this extensive history from one of the oldest cities in North America as a starting point.


I drew inspiration from pre-Columbian cup typologies consisting of two volumes: an upper vessel and a lower base. This form language was used to create an evolutionary object referencing ancient vessels unique to the area. The finalized design allows for a 2oz serving of espresso. A 1oz serving can be measured on the reverse side, giving the user the option for less caffeine. The color is inspired by the vibrant clay found around the area of the Texcoco lake bed. In the tradition of collecting shot glasses during your travels, this vessel feels right at home used as a shot glass as well.


By the time I graduated high school, my family had moved between five different countries. There was often little opportunity to create a lasting bond with these places, as we never lived there more than two years. However, the time that my family spent in a Dutch-speaking suburb of Brussels, Belgium was a very formative experience in my life.

Behind waffles and chocolate, Manneken Pis is one of the many iconic symbols of Belgium. The 15th century statue of a urinating boy was onced used as a drinking fountain, but now serves as a monument to the unique spirit of the Belgian people. The statue is regularly dressed in various costumes during events in the city, and on occasion the fountain is hooked up to a keg of beer.

To create my souvenir, I took inspiration from some of the amazing and often irreverent PCB artwork that has started to adorn small batch electronics projects. The souvenir utilizes four layers of the circuit board (fiberglass substrate, gold-plated copper, black solder mask, and white silkscreen) to add artwork. The board is powered by a replaceable coin cell battery, and a switch on the bottom of the souvenir turns on LEDs which illuminate the eyes. A small hole at the top can serve as an attachment point for a keychain or ornament hook.


In 2016 my wife and I quit our jobs and slowly drove from NYC to Los Angeles without any idea of our route or even what we would do when we arrived in LA. We made plenty of stops at ridiculous, kitsch and cliche locations along the way like Nicholas Cage's tomb, Foamhenge and Prada Marfa. One of our stops was a Wigwam motel on Rt. 66 in Holbrook Arizona.

The motel was built in 1950 and is composed of a "village" of conical structures (which are nothing like a wigwam...) and a parking lot full of cars from the 60's with heavy proportions and generous curves. While we didn't do or see anything besides the motel in Holbrook, it was symbolic of our cross country road trip and the random stops we made along the way. To celebrate our trip together I designed a small bedside jewelry box with an integrated ring holder which is inspired by the form of the motel and the proportions of the cars in the parking lot.

Every evening, my wife removed her rings and earrings and set them haphazardly on her nightstand. I saw a design opportunity to create a storage solution that created a new daily ritual for her while remembering our trip. The jewelry box is one of two (my wife uses the other one) and is produced in gloss white glazed porcelain.


What makes us fall in love with a place is not so much the physical location but the memories, personal growth, and relationships we build there.

Who What Where LA is an introspective toy to recreate your version of Los Angeles based on personal memories. LA is a massive city but the more memories you have there, the smaller it becomes.

Made from cold-pressed paper cards you can interlock, journal and watercolor on. All within a 6” x 6” x 1” Box. Creativity + assembly required :)

View the assembly here.



Of the countless natural wonders in Iceland, my memories of Jökulsárlón stand out most vividly—slabs of glacial ice refracting sunlight as they float through a lagoon, surrounded by beaches of volcanic rock. With this ice candle shade I wanted to capture that classic juxtaposition of fire and ice and how the two interact to create a constantly evolving landscape. How the candle light is cast changes as the ice shade melts down and collects in the dish over the course of roughly two hours, until the candle is suspended in a reflecting pool of the former shade.



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Presented by Orchestra