For the Best Interior Design Finds, Take a Guided Shopping Tour to Paris, Istanbul and More

WHEN MELANIE BURNS of Oklahoma City first entered the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul, she was stunned by its sheer size and the pathways winding through its tented structures like a tangle of yarn. Though well-traveled and an old hand at hunting one-of-a-kind objets, she’d never experienced such an onslaught of potential riches. “The bazaar is intimidating,” she said, “the size of about five football fields.”

She had expert allies, however: Clare Louise Frost and Elizabeth Hewitt of Tamam, a lifestyle brand and Manhattan store specialising in Turkish antiques and their own collections. The duo led Ms. Burns to a shop layered deep behind other shops. “It was no more than about 14 feet square, and stacked high with the most beautiful hand-woven vintage tapestries I’ve ever seen,” Ms. Burns recalled. “I would never have tackled the place without these women. They are walking encyclopedias, they speak the language and when you shop with them, you don’t overpay.”

Ms. Frost, who calls the bazaar “her second home,” lived in Istanbul for nine years, and her business partners, Ms. Hewitt and Hüseyin Kaplan, still live there. Together they host trips to Turkey, capped at 14 participants, all eager to buy décor to take back home. Overseas shopping sprees like this are an increasingly popular new category of travel. Interior-design pros immerse travellers in a country’s culture and guide them to fabulous finds, whether an ornate vintage camel bag from Turkey or a contemporary French sculpture.

Indagare, a travel company in Manhattan, is seeing a growing market for overseas shopping trips. The 30 Insider Journey trips it ran in 2022, including seven design-centred jaunts, drew 540 travellers, twice as many as in 2019. Sicily, Japan and Mallorca are locales Indagare is eyeing for future design trips. Penta, a magazine that, like The Wall Street Journal, is published by Dow Jones & Co., has a partnership with Indagare to organise trips.

“Covid taught us we need to go when we have the opportunity,” said Grant K. Gibson, a San Francisco interior designer who himself has led eight trips to India and two to Morocco and is adding excursions to Egypt, Mexico and Turkey.

Trips are as cultural as they are commercial. Before Mr. Gibson’s group of 10 globetrotters start looking for linens or bargaining for bowls, they tour Jaipur by electric rickshaw and visit a textile museum. “I want them to understand the history and know where design ideas come from,” he said. Cynthia Smith, a biotech exec from San Francisco who traveled with Mr. Gibson to Morocco, came home with pottery in a vibrant green glaze unique to Tamegroute, a village that edges the Sahara. “Everyone asks me about the vase, and I have a story to tell about Tamegroute pottery,” she said. “It gives character to my house.”

The packages don’t come cheap—from around $4,000 to $18,000 (not including flights) depending on location and length—but offer you insider access. Designer Chloe Mackintosh of Boxwood Avenue Interiors in Reno, Nev., is leading her first trip this year to parts of Italy and France she knows well. One focus will be the weekend antique markets in L’isle-sur-la-Sorgue, in southeast France, but she’ll also introduce guests to local artisans, including a fifth-generation ceramist. Her group will take a pottery-making class to understand the process behind the product.

Known as “the huntress” because of her many years buying and selling vintage furniture, Ariene C. Bethea says people began asking her to lead a trip so they could hunt alongside her. The owner of Dressing Rooms Interiors, a shop and design studio in Charlotte, N.C., teamed with TrovaTrip to create a journey to the Paris flea markets this May. With Ms. Bethea’s input, the Portland, Ore., group-travel managers lined up accommodations, vendors, translators and tickets to museums. “I plan to help my guests shop, give them ideas and help them learn to tell stories in a space,” said Ms. Bethea, known for her playful use of colours, bold patterns and culturally inspired designs.

Lodging on these guided forays offers design cred, too. Ms. Mackintosh has reserved an entire 16-room château in the French countryside for just 12 people. Tamam’s Istanbul guests stay in a marble-floored hotel that was a late 19th-century Ottoman bank—with a vault that doubles as a wine cellar—and for excursions to Cappadocia, a region in central Turkey, they bed down in a traditional cavelike home carved out of soft rock.

On a trip to the South of France with Los Angeles-based designer Kathryn M. Ireland, visitors stay in Ms. Ireland’s farmhouse near Toulouse. Her trademark fabrics and colourful Bohemian and English-country style are on display in every bedroom lamp shade and living room chair. “Guests shop my house, and then I point them in the right direction to buy similar things,” she said. Ms. Ireland has been leading groups (a maximum of 10 people) for over a decade, taking them to neighbours’ villas, antique markets and out-of-the-way bakeries and bee yards.

Abby Landers first visited Ms. Ireland’s home as a high-school senior, traveling with her mother. Now five years out of college and living in Boston, she recently returned. “Kathryn embraced us, and she has been a mentor for me ever since.” Inspired by that first trip, Ms. Landers earned a master’s degree in interior architecture, and her current boss is someone she met on that trip. “You’re there for a week, and it’s a whirlwind of meeting artists and artisans, all friends of Kathryn’s.”

Kirstan Barnett, a tech investor from Palm Beach Gardens, Fla., traveled to Tangier with Melissa Biggs Bradley, founder of Indagare. Ms. Barnett was particularly moved by dinner at the 300-year-old, whitewashed, riad-style residence of Jamie Creel and Marco Scarani, two of the many designers she met at private events. The home was so richly layered and eclectic, she said, it inspired her to approach her own décor more bravely and reject the notion that a room must adhere to one style.

Some pros who organise such tours offer itinerary planning to folks who don’t want to travel with strangers. Mr. Gibson recently created a program for a group of four going to Jaipur. Though he won’t be joining them, he’s chosen the lodging and booked the restaurants and the experiences.

Travelers laser-focused on in-the-know shopping minus the touring can hire Chicago-based Skin Interior Design in cities such as London, Paris and Milan. The company arranges excursions so clients are shown exactly what they want—whether French midcentury chairs or Venetian-glass chandeliers. “We have an education in art history and antiques, and we help find pieces that keep value,” said Lauren Lozano Ziol, one of the founders. A recent two-day antique-furniture and art expedition in London cost $10,000.

How to get all the booty home? Mr. Gibson advises guests to travel with at least one empty suitcase. Bulky items can be packed and airfreighted home using DHL or FedEx. (Most carriers will pick up at the hotel.) Some vendors ship direct to the States from their stores at reasonable rates. For those who travel with Tamam to Turkey, easy shipping—including having your purchases collected from the vendors—is one of the perks. Ms. Burns, who bought ceramics, four suzani bedspreads and six rugs, said Tamam handled shipping for about $400. “Some of my things arrived before I even got home,” she said.

International Harvest / Souvenirs that guests collected on their design-focused journeys abroad

DESIGN JAUNTS ON THE HORIZON

Five 2023 trips abroad devised and helmed by interiors experts imparting their insider info

Ready to shop your way around the world? Here are just some of the available packages that focus on home design. Prices are per person and generally include accommodations, meals and beverages, guided touring, activities and local transportation.

Flea Market Foraging | May 4-10, 2023

The owner of Dressing Rooms Interiors, a vintage-home-furnishings boutique and design studio in Charlotte, N.C., Ariene C. Bethea takes travellers shopping the Paris vintage markets and art galleries and on visits to lesser-known museums such as the Museum Nationale Gustave Moreau. Also on the agenda: a foray to Versailles and its gardens, a tour of Montmartre street art and a tasting at the Museum of Wine. From $3,649, Trips.TrovaTrip.com

Ciao, Italia | May 15-19, 2023 (wait list only)

Chloe Mackintosh, owner of Boxwood Avenue Interiors, a Reno, Nev., studio and shop, leads a 4-night trip in Florence, Italy. Travelers stay at the five-star Il Salviatino, a restored 15th-century villa that mixes Renaissance and contemporary décor. Along with shopping excursions, antiquing and a workshop at a local artisan’s studio, the trip includes wine tasting and cooking lessons. Florence, from $5,500, Learn.BoxwoodAvenue.com

Turkey Club | May 17-26, 2023

Designer Clare Louise Frost, Tulu Textiles owner Elizabeth Hewitt and carpet dealer Hüseyin Kaplan teamed up to create Tamam, located in Manhattan and Istanbul and specialising in antique and vintage Turkish textiles, rugs and ceramics. Travelers tour Istanbul, Konya and Cappadocia, shopping the Grand Bazaar and the Spice Bazaar and visiting textiles and antique dealers. Plus: a hot-air-balloon ride and cooking class. Tamam in Turkey, from $3,600, Shop-Tamam.com

English Town and Country | June 11-17, 2023

In London, South African interior designer Serena Crawford guides travellers through Kensington Palace’s Sunken Garden (Diana’s favourite) as well as shops such as heritage brand Fortnum & Mason. In the university town of Oxford, architectural highlights range from medieval to modern, and in the bucolic Cotswolds, guests visit private homes and gardens of renowned interior designers. London & the Cotswolds with Serena Crawford, from $15,350, Indagare.com

Joie de Vivre in France | Sept. 9-16, 2023

Los Angeles-based designer Kathryn M. Ireland takes you on private museum tours, flea market hunts and a trend-spotting tour of design fair Maison et Objet in Paris (ticket not included), followed by leisurely days in the French countryside at her farmhouse outside Toulouse. Paris & La Castellane, from $7,900, Paris hotel not included, KathrynIreland.com

India, Indeed | Dec. 11-18, 2023

San Francisco interior designer Grant K. Gibson shares his passion for India with a guided tour of Jaipur and Taj Mahal. Participants stay in a guesthouse once part of a maharajah’s gardens; enjoy traditional Indian feasts; learn the history of block printing; rendezvous with rescue elephants; and conquer the chaotic bazaar, comprising flower and spice markets and rug and textiles vendors. Travel with Grant from $9,500, GrantKGibson.com

The Wall Street Journal is not compensated by retailers listed in its articles as outlets for products. Listed retailers frequently are not the sole retail outlets.

Art can transform more than just walls—it shapes mood, evokes memory, and elevates the everyday. Discover how thoughtfully curated interiors can become living expressions of personal meaning and refined luxury, from sculptural furniture to bespoke murals.

Artful Abundance: The Sophisticated Joy of Artful Interiors

Imagine a hushed hospital corridor, its sterile walls awash in the glow of flickering fluorescent lights. In that unexpected moment, a solitary Monet painting emerged—a luminous tableau of delicate lilies dancing in quiet defiance.

As the clinical austerity yielded to the graceful presence of art, this single work transformed into a vessel of solace and hope amid overwhelming uncertainty.

That moment continues to resonate with me—a vivid reminder that art transcends mere aesthetics to become a profound catalyst for emotional healing and inspiration. It is this transformative experience that fuels my passion as a biophilic interior designer.

I create environments where every element, from bespoke murals to sculptural installations, harnesses art’s power to elevate the human spirit, spark creativity, and enrich lives. Let us journey together into the world of luxurious interiors that define modern elegance.

2. Art as Wellness: A Daily Ritual of Rejuvenation

At its core, art is a daily ritual that renews both mind and spirit. Scientific research consistently confirms that nature-inspired art reduces stress, lowers blood pressure, and kindles creativity.

The simple act of beholding a tranquil landscape or a subtle floral motif transforms your space into a private retreat, offering solace amidst a hectic world.

In my practice, I meticulously select artworks chosen not only for their aesthetic appeal but also for their potent, therapeutic benefits.

Each piece serves as daily inspiration—a quiet invitation to experience calm and well-being. For example, our Hilton project demonstrates how hospitality resorts integrate nature-inspired art not only for its visual impact but also as a medium of healing; here, a collaboration with a local artist produced a masterful installation that functions both as a statement piece and a source of well-being.

3. Bespoke Brilliance: Celebrating Your Unique Narrative

Luxury design is profoundly personal. Bespoke art transcends mass-produced décor by capturing your unique story—whether through a custom mural reminiscent of your favourite botanical garden or silk wallpapers that evoke the allure of exotic landscapes.

Each personalised creation turns your walls into a living narrative of cherished memories and distinctive taste. Consider how a thoughtfully designed space can reflect your individuality and elevate your living experience.

4. Sculptural Elegance: Redefining Spatial Dynamics

Art is not confined to two dimensions. Three-dimensional sculptural works bring vitality to interiors by adding depth, texture, and tactile allure.

Picture a gracefully sculpted piece—a marble table echoing the gentle rhythm of ocean waves or a repurposed bronze branch serving as an elegant room divider.

Such statement sculptures command attention while seamlessly integrating form with function and providing a natural conversation starter in any refined space.

5. Architectural Artistry: When Structure Meets Art

A truly sophisticated home elegantly merges art with architecture. Imagine a residence where bespoke staircases curve with elegance, where hand-carved wooden doors evoke the intricate beauty of nature, and where expansive windows frame breathtaking vistas.

In these spaces, every architectural detail contributes to a cohesive canvas of artistic expression. As you envision your own home, consider how your surroundings can be thoughtfully designed to reflect both beauty and purpose.

6. Furniture as Functional Art: Merging Practicality with Mastery

In luxury interiors, even the functional becomes exceptional through artful design. Consider a one-of-a-kind, hand-carved pink marble swivel chair—a masterpiece where practicality meets refined craftsmanship.

More than just a piece of furniture, this chair sparks conversation and serves as an emblem of creative innovation and exclusivity.

Let this be a symbol of how every element in your home might reflect your dedication to exquisite artistry.

7. Digital Sophistication: The Future of Artistic Expression

In an age defined by rapid technological advancement, digital art installations offer a contemporary twist on traditional forms.

High-resolution displays now present dynamic landscapes—a cascade of waterfalls, the quiet majesty of a forest, or a serene digital ocean vista—that adapt and evolve with your environment.

This modern element seamlessly aligns cutting-edge technology with timeless aesthetics, ensuring your space remains as innovative as it is elegant.

8. Luxurious Textiles and Furnishings: The Essence of Understated Elegance

Luxury is often revealed in the details: the textures, colours, and fabrics that together create a haven of understated splendour.

Bespoke silk cushions with intricate botanical embroidery, sumptuous velvet throws that evoke tropical charm, and bedding that mirrors the ethereal beauty of cloudscapes all contribute to an atmosphere of refined elegance and comfort.

Every tactile detail is chosen to evoke warmth and stand as a testament to your taste for excellence.

9. Refined Heritage: Honouring Timeless Craftsmanship

In the realm of luxury, tradition and modernity exist in perfect harmony. Integrating timeless antiques—such as a rare Vladimir Kagan couch or a coveted Hans Wegner chair—with contemporary design creates a dialogue that honours both heritage and innovation.

These storied pieces carry with them a legacy of masterful craftsmanship, adding layers of significance and depth to your living environment. They remind us that true elegance is built upon a foundation of enduring quality.

10. The Art of Personal Meaning: Crafting Your Legacy

Ultimately, art is the language through which you express your unique legacy.

Every carefully chosen piece reflects a part of your personal journey, turning your living space into a narrative as emotionally resonant as it is visually stunning.

It imbues your environment with memories, aspirations, and the essence of who you are—a living masterpiece that evolves with time.

Reflect on how these elements might not only beautify your home but also stand as timeless expressions of your personal story.

Now is the moment to immerse yourself fully in the joy of art. Elevate your surroundings and transform your residence into your greatest masterpiece.

Your heart, your legacy, and your space deserve nothing less than extraordinary artistry.

Ozge Fettahlioglu is the founder of Cocoplum | Biophilic Design Studio and Boxareno | Custom Modular Constructions. A wellness and biophilic design leader, she creates bespoke spaces that inspire, heal, and elevate daily living. Ozge is also a board member of Biophilic Cities Australia.