29 Jul 2026
Everyday Objects Shape Our World by Travel Things Museum
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 and experiences through both tangible and abstract perspectives. 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 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 noticing these forms, colours, and themes in our daily encounters allows us to connect our practices with those around and before us.
Our nostalgia table presents objects that tell us childhood stories of our own and of others, and shares unique and fond memories of cultures worldwide. The exhibition then moves on 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.
From Chinese Little Red Books to Polish miniature books of exotic poetry, our mixed selection of novels, magazines and leaflets represents 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 lively array of yellow objects, emphasising the importance of colour in design psychology.
The Travel Things Experience
To make the most of the exhibition, 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 SDW26 to indulge in this concept, as we prepare to launch a full Teasmade Teahouse experience in the future.
Acknowledgements
Travel Things Museum is proud to present Everyday Objects Shape Our World with the support of 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
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