Milan | Boarding Pass Art

Valeria Francione, a girlfriend of mine who’s a fashion and interior designer based in Milan, has come up with the ultimate travel souvenir. She takes some apparently trifling token of your trip – a luggage tag or boarding pass, a museum, concert or tram ticket, whatever brings back memories – and turns it into a mini work of art with acrylic and oil paints on a small canvas. Hang it, collect more, and you could soon have a wall of keepsakes from your travels, unique and personalised: Valeria’s art en voyage. To order them, contact Valeria on her blog or on facebook, or send her an email.

The blank canvases – and indeed ready-made ones you can buy even in advance of your trip – can be found at all the right stores in Milan like 10 Corso Como, Excelsior and the Armani bookstore in Via Manzoni 31, packaged up with another of Valeria’s great ideas, city colours. These are mini city guides featuring her own photos of the best in architecture, art, design, fashion, food and wellness, so far available for London, Paris and Milan. €15 for a guide plus blank canvas, €20 with a ready-made souvenir canvas.