Think you can’t shop the world in a day? Consider it a nomadic shopper’s dream come true. A pop-up shopping experience—dubbed The Souk Sarasota—comes to Selby Botanical Gardens for a two-day installation, presented by Michael Saunders & Company. Among the international trunk show featuring designers and boutiques from all over the globe, local design studio Pansy Bayou will represent the beach-chic home supply of Gulf Coast dwellings with up-and-coming makers. As the gardens burst in a bazaar-esque marketplace, The Souk promises to evoke the eclectic vibrancy of a foreign market, teeming with textiles, clothing, jewelry, home goods, culture and craft.

"It is a curated shopping event that evokes the atmosphere of a foreign market — a traveler’s paradise bursting with color, handcrafted merchandise, and soul," says Casey Stephenson, studio director of Pansy Bayou. "At The Souk, you can shop the world in a day and discover quality products you've likely never seen in stores. Our nomadic artisans can show up anywhere, and lucky for us, Selby Gardens is the next pop-up location."

Among the independent designers and wandering artisans—many of them ethical trade—snag exotic jewelry from Goa, India or South Sea pearls from the hands of the divers who harvested them. Without crossing the border, covet traditional embroidery from Mexico, as well as contemporary fashion of high-tech performance fabric from Switzerland. Add handcrafted leather goods from Texan ranches and Balinese hillsides to your collection, as well as fine hand-crafted handbags, painted silks, hand-loomed baskets, hand-sewn throws, housewares, accessories and more global goods from romanticized destinations like the Philippines, Chile, Italy, Istanbul, Nepal, Portugal, U.K., Australia, Nigeria, Kenya, Uzbekistan and Tibet.

Tuesday, March 3, 10:00 am - 3:00 pm and Wednesday, March 4, 10:00 am - 5:00 pm.  

Eventbrite for The Souk Sarasota.

While the event is free, admission to the Selby Gardens themselves will not be included. Guests will be able to enter The Souk through the mansion gate. 

Photo courtesy of Pansy Bayou