Postcards from the Road: Tumbler Edition Series 001
When I decided to turn my photography over the years of my travels into postcards and prints people could actually buy and hold, I'd have never known this small passion project of mine would be what it is today. Going out to art markets and fairs and doing booths has allowed me to connect with people and get feedback from the ground and I'm pleased to say reaction has been incredibly positive, and for that I'm beyond grateful.
But I told myself, I need to do more.
There has to be more that I can do to grow this project.
So here we are — tumblers.
Edit: Ever since the launch of the tumblers, the brand has grown into several more lines of postcards, tote bags, and notebooks.
Postcards Series 001 | Postcards Series 002 | Postcards Series 003 | Postcards Series 004 Singapore
Tote Bags Series 001 | Tote Bags Series 002 | Tote Bags Series 003 Singapore
Notebooks Series 001 | Notebooks Series 002 | Tumblers Series 001
My goal this month really, was to only get one new line of stuff launched, but the overachiever in me pushed for a whole lot more and now I've got these tumblers, notebooks and tote bags on top of Series 001 and Series 002 of my postcards.
And with my cards, I think it's important to contextualise the photographs I chose out of all in my collection, and hopefully share that love of travel in a bigger way.
1. Lisbon, Portugal
Lisbon is by and far away one of the coolest cities I’ve ever visited, period.
Lisbon bursts with life, history and colour.
You see it when you walk down the streets, you see it when you look up and around at the pastel-coloured buildings that have been around for ages, you see it in the immaculate and stunning ‘azulejos’ ceramic tiles that line walls and the ground you walk on.
Interestingly, a unique souvenir to take home from Lisbon is a tangible piece of it’s tinning and fishing history.
Tinned seafood was born as a result of the boom of the national canning industry, and these days these come in the form of colourful tins of all different colours, branding, and logos. As a testament to it’s popularity, there are dedicated souvenir shops in Lisbon to these souvenirs, and walking into one was like walking into a candy store, and the abundance of vibrant colours was a real feast for the eyes.
Shop the Souvenirs from Lisbon Tumbler here.
2. Lisbon, Portugal
If you've read my posts from Lisbon, you'll know that one of my favourite discoveries of Portugal's cool capital city is that the Guinness World Record's Oldest Operating Bookstore in the World originated and still operates in Lisbon today.
Next to the bookstore, there was a little alley with both sides lined with vendors selling their second hand books for cheap. It felt like a junkyard for book lovers.
Maybe it's because the books were colourful in a foreign language and I was on a vacation, but this table of books really stood out to me. I mean, never judge a book by it's cover but it sure isn't bad to have one that looks beautiful.
Also, the man's hand in that photo was completely unplanned, just another likely book lover browsing through the pages of the book and it really added to the picture, and I guess it's one of those right place right time stars-have-aligned type of photo moments, which have always been my favourite anyway.
Shop the Books in an Alley Tumbler here.
3. City Beach, Perth, Western Australia
If there's one thing that Australia does incredibly well, it's the most incredible beach culture.
I don't think I've visited a place where all the beaches had been spotless with soft, fine powdery white sands and oceans with the deepest shades of azure than in Australia, and in this case Western Australia.
With a coastline facing the vast Indian Ocean, the many beaches scattered along the coast are all stunning, and many have become quite famous around the world, including places like Cottesloe and Scarborough which have blossomed into little suburbs.
A less famous one, and a more inconspicuously named one, City Beach, was the first beach I hit on this trip and boy oh boy did it not disappoint.
I love Australia's coastal walks, I've done the Bondi to Coogee one on the other side of the coast, and City Beach had one too.
You had the waves rolling in one side and the lush greenery on the other, and when the sun began to dip closer into the ocean, the striking hues of orange and red painted the coast in the most stunning way possible, and that's when I snapped this picture.
Shop the Sunsets in Perth Tumbler here.
4. Dreamland Beach, Bali, Indonesia
Not a place starved of beach culture, Bali, the Island of Gods, in Indonesia, I remember on this day we had hired a driver to take us around the island.
One of the things I really wanted to see was its beaches, and I did my research and consulted our driver who was a local of the best beaches on the island and this— Dreamland Beach came up.
We managed to head over to a cliff's edge, where we got a stunning view of the beach from up top, and with the beach umbrellas opened up and the sky sunny and clear, this was quite the view, and maybe one of my favourite photos from that trip.
Shop the Dreamland Beach Tumbler here.
5. Lisbon, Portugal
A city built on hills, Lisbon is not short on stunning viewpoints.
But this in particular, with the Ponte 25 de Abril bridge just off the right and the Sanctuary of Christ the King (Santuário de Cristo Rei) across the river on the other bank, was actually from a rooftop bar.
One of the most popular gastropubs in the city, Rio Maravilha, is located off the city centre at LXFactory, an area that used to be occupied by factories and industrial uses for textile and the like, that has now been turned into an artsy district complete with local artsy boutiques, gift shops, restaurants, markets and bakeries.
From the rooftop bar, we enjoyed a cocktail and a sunset and I have to say it was one of my standout memories from my time in Portugal's capital city.
Shop the Bridge Over the River Tagus Tumbler here.
6. Hunter Valley Gardens, New South Wales, Australia
My trip to the Hunter Valley, a major wine-producing region of the state, somehow featured many flowers, and this was one of them.
Located in Hunter Valley Gardens, a massive garden featuring flowers in bloom, plots of gardens separately modelled after their Japanese, Chinese, and Indian counterparts, and beautifully pruned mazes, I found this field of daisies blowing in the wind.
Shop the Daisies in the Hunter Valley Tumbler here.
And with that, that's my first series of tumblers here.
As always, each of these photos meant something to me and that's why I chose them, and I hope they inspire you to travel or even put your mind at ease.
Shop the entire collection here!
