The trade in souvenirs is highly profitable from the individual street/site vendor to the large emporium and has a long history dating form Ancient Greece. Locally made crafts have been supplanted by factory made objects. Still, the need to bring ‘something back’ resonates.
At the entrance to Angkor Wat, CambodiaSouvenir sellers row to the tourist boats in Halong Bay, VietnamIstanbul street vendor
Deborah Jaffé is an author; cultural and design historian; ceramicist and painter with special interests in the history of souvenirs and memory studies; women and innovation; childhood, play and toys.