Everyday Objects Shape Our World

Travel Things Museum is a London-based non-profit organisation dedicated to global discovery, seeking to educate and inspire through carefully curated exhibitions exploring the connections that unite us across the world. These displays bring otherwise-ordinary objects to life, sharing their stories with audiences encountering them for the first time. This year, our display explores objects that shape our world, experiences, and personal lives, on both tangible and abstract levels. We present six individually curated themes: nostalgia, daily ritual & routine, round objects, female world, the colour yellow, and the world of books. From Irish peat blocks to Cypriot tumbleweed, both familiarity and curiosity are essential to this display. Through these varied and distinct categories, we explore the intentionality of joyful design, and how people across the globe shape and personalise the items that connect us all. By noticing the physical shapes that surround us, we can understand the greater world of intentional design that keeps life fascinating. The act of slowing down and noticing these forms, colours, and themes in our daily encounters allows us to connect our practices with those around and before us. In this exhibition, the first theme of nostalgia presents objects that tell us childhood stories of our own and of others, and shares unique and fond memories of worldwide culture. This brings us to daily routine, a second selection detailing the mundane things we do every day as humans that connect us in character and existence. Then, looking at round objects, we explore the playfulness and functionality of repetitive design in the context of ordinary items, from Jamaican Dutch pots to Mauritian mosquito-coil packs. With an amusing array of print media, maintenance products, and clothing, the global female experience takes a sly lens in the exhibition, exploring what it literally looks like to be a woman in many different countries. The collection also presents an assortment of books; from Chinese Little Red Books to Polish miniature books of exotic poetry, we delve into the texts that shape our perspectives and experiences. Last but not least, we look at nothing else but joy! Our final curated table presents a complete array of yellow objects, emphasising the importance of colour in design psychology. To enhance your Travel Things experience, we encourage you to take part in our ‘Curiosity Quiz’, which provides you with knowledge prompts throughout and gives you a chance of winning a special prize when the exhibition ends. Following this journey of global and visual discovery, we also invite you to check out our annual publication, launching at this showcase. Travel Things Vol.3 aims to explore stories of the globe, deciphering how a shared love for art and design transcends culture. Several items from our concept store will also be available at the exhibition, waiting to join a new collection of your own. Additionally, details of an exciting collaboration await you at the end of the exhibition, as we present a new experience with Chá-Fé, an independent speciality coffee shop offering authentic Taiwanese and Japanese teas and cakes. This project will unite the sacred act of tea drinking with our love for invention and design, as guests are invited to enjoy Taiwanese tea straight from vintage Teasmade machines. We present three opportunities over the course of LDF26 to indulge in this concept, as we prepare to launch a full Teasmade Teahouse experience in the future. We are proud to present ‘Everyday Objects Shape our World’ with the help of the following UK university placement students and volunteers: Alison Grace Zheng | Anna Ly | Chen Hsun Lee | Huihsuan Chou | Jenna Lubinski | Koushik Upadhyay | Krishan Kumar | Liv Curnen | Martha Gane | Nika Vopilova | Pachara Tonsirianusorn | Sabrina Kad-Bay Rodriguez | Sara Aslani | Sara Pastorelli | Shu Fei Hsu | Cheng Chuen Yam | Yeji Kim | Yi Ciao Huang.