The Collection grew from a question I had been exploring for over a decade in my own work: what meaning should a souvenir carry? That question became the starting point for the Design Your Souvenir workshop, held in Mallorca, Madrid, Osaka and Barcelona. In each place, participants were invited to translate memory, culture and experience into an object rooted in place.
Roberto Papakone
Reclaiming the object’s memory. Souvenirs have lost their purpose. Mass-produced and disconnected from the place it purports to represent, it has become an empty simulacrum of memory. I propose a return to its origins: the souvenir as an object that carries real memory, that embodies the experience of a place, that translates into matter the imprint a place leaves on those who live there or pass through it.
Three Ways of Belonging: Design Your Souvenir Collection invites designers and craftspeople to create their own souvenir based on one of these territorial connections:
The hand that shapes the memory. Each piece is born of craftsmanship. Of techniques that respect the passage of time, of authentic materials, and of the artisan’s touch that leaves its mark. No two pieces are identical, just as no two memories are the same. The process matters just as much as the result: the exploration of the local area, decisions regarding materials and forms, the sketches, and the dialogue between the creator and the place. All of this is encapsulated in the final object.
An archive of lived-in places. The Collection constructs an emotional map. Each souvenir is a craftsman or designer’s unique interpretation of a meaningful place. Together, they form an archive of perspectives, a catalogue of belongings, an emotional geography brought to life.
