The Craft of Travel
By Jess McGahan
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Travel doesn't have to stop when you make it home. There is always room in your bag to bring that something special to remind you of your last trip.
In her own words, Jess an artist, craft and travel - enthusiast takes a look at the crafts she found whilst travelling:
Don’t get me wrong, these are not great works of art. I’m not one of those travellers that chances upon an unidentified Matisse sketch in a Parisian flea market.
Nevertheless, the brightly coloured handwoven tea towels from Sri Lanka that hang in my kitchen take me back to the joyful month I spent there in 2017. My leather and wool pencil case brings a part of my favourite town in Spain with me every day. The carved wooden elephants my Dad brought me back from India remind me of the places I’d still like to visit.
What these things have in common is that they were handcrafted in places that have caught my imagination. I think there’s something uniquely special about finding these handmade treasures on our travels.
“What these things have in common is that they were handcrafted in places that have caught my imagination”
These objects are made with love, care, and skills passed from down generation to generation. Unlike photographs - that capture one moment in time - handmade objects are imbued with years of culture, craft and love that tell us so much more about a place and the people we find there.
The beauty of travel is the opportunity it gives us to discover new perspectives and ideas and these experiences make up who we are. When we bring artefacts back with us and decorate ourselves and our homes with them we are offering a subtle expression of those experiences and ideas.
For many of us, travel means escaping the realities of everyday life. We become different versions of ourselves when we are away - more relaxed, carefree and often enjoying a clarity of thought not always achievable during the grind of our regular lives.
The pieces that come with us from these trips are talismans of those feelings and can offer a welcome escape during the day to day.
For those of us who are planning future trips -
some of my favourite places for beautiful handmade finds:
Thread of
Life, Bali:
Beautiful textile goods woven using traditional techniques by weavers from across Indonesia.
Barefoot
Sri Lanka:
This is a mecca of vibrant homewares and clothes handwoven on site.
Two Hands Textile Studio
Portugal:
Beautiful handcrafted fibre art and accessories.