The shop in Marrakech was jammed with tea pots, cups, rings, bracelets, lanterns …and lamps. I immediately saw this shiny minaret, glowing like a lighthouse over a sea of brass. The shop owner was fluent in English –and Shakespearean with his delivery, but I was already sold on the lamp before his opening line. Within days, its guiding light came to shine in LA, letting this wayfarer know he’s home.

One’s first purchase of a small souvenir building may be the start of a collection that could one day grow to resemble the 3D model of New York City at the Queens Museum. Many travelers covet vintage metal miniatures, but I love little ceramic buildings. Churches, pagodas, modernist homes and more. An added strand of lights meandering between them on a bookshelf animates the tiny structures like a cartoon village.

FINDS:

Ceramic Pagodas
Ceramic Houses

Ceramic Portuguese Churches

Copper String Lights

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