AYAKA NISHI

Model Wears 18-Karat Gold Plated
Honeycomb Necklace, Earrings, Rings
and Cuff Bracelet

Erected to honor the Japanese goddess Amaterasu Omikami, the Ise Shrine, located in Japan’s Mie prefecture, is a complex compound of hundreds of Shinto shrines. 

According to custom, the shrines are “rebuilt every twenty years” so that architectural styles are not mimicked.  Japan is also the ancestral home of featured jewelry designer Ayaka Nishi.

BASTIAN INVERUN

14-Karat Gold Plated Sterling Silver
Circle Necklace

Dresden, Germany is the location of the 18^th century fortress Zwinger Palace.

Built over the course of eighteen years, this structure holds a museum with a collection of paintings by Raphael.  Germany is also home to featured jewelry brand Bastian Inverun.

THE SCOOP ON 2011 JEWELRY TRENDS

If keeping up with jewelry trends is not your thing it may become rather overwhelming.   However, if you enjoy making sure your jewelry collection contains an eclectic mix of styles and materials then you my friend are a die-hard fashionista!

While I have touched on various jewelry trends in blog posts over the last two years (and in many cases without knowing it) for this Splendor Sidebar you will learn some of what is abuzz for jewelry trends in 2011.

ANNA RUTH HENRIQUES

Oxidized Sterling Silver Nugget
Holon Pendant Necklace

 The Daily News Building in New York was once the location of The New York Daily News for roughly seventy years.  

With its crisp Art Deco architecture it is said to have been the model for the fictional Daily Planet.  New York is also home to featured jewelry designer Anna Ruth Henriques.

MONALISA OKOJIE | NEHITA JEWELRY

14-Karat Gold Pendant Necklace
with Purple Jade

Anambra is a tiny city located near Africa’s River Niger.  One of the city’s top attractions is its Omaba festival but the city is also known for its variety of artworks.  Africa is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Monalisa Okojie.

PHILIPPA HOLLAND

Oxidized Sterling Silver Scorpion
Pendant Necklace with Tsavorite Eyes

Holding an array of modern art dating back to 1900 is London, England’s Tate Modern gallery.

Eclectic art spanning the work of Claude Monet to Andy Warhol is exhibited on separate levels of the building.  England is also home to featured jewelry designer Philippa Holland.

MICHELE and WHITNEY HENDERSON | HENDERSON DESIGN

Abalone Shell and Gold Vermeil
Teardrop Earrings

Though small in size the Village Creek State Park, located in Lumberton, Texas, is known as “The American Ark” due to its wide variety of wildlife.  Texas is also home to featured jewelry brand Henderson Design.

MONIQUE PÉAN FINE JEWELRY

Woolly Mammoth Ivory Diamond Necklace

Opened to the public just seven years ago is the U.S. National World War II Memorial.  Located in Washington, D.C.’s National Mall it is described by some as “evocative of federal architecture during the New Deal Period.” 

The site boasts majestic pillars with arches that encompass a plaza and fountain.  Washington, D.C. is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Monique Péan. 

BARRY WILSON

Sterling Silver Killerwhale Pendant Necklace
with Abalone and Turquoise Inlay

Let’s take a trip along the Gaspe Peninsula in Quebec, Canada to see the island known as Percé Rock. 

A hulking mass of lime stones at over 1,000 feet long and nearly 300 feet wide it is one of the world’s largest natural arches.  Canada is also home to featured jewelry designer Barry Wilson.

LEEORA CATALAN | nOir JEWELRY

Gold-Plated Brass Wonder Woman Ring with
Cubic Zirconia

A fixture in Columbia County, New York for nearly three hundred years, the Clermont State Historic Site is where the former estate of the influential Livingston family is located.  New York is also home to featured jewelry designer Leeora Catalan.

ANNA-KARIN HALLSTRÖM | BLACK DAISY DESIGNS

Copper and Rock Crystal Like a Dragonfly Bracelet

The City of Roses is the nickname of Visby, Sweden and it houses some of the world’s most stunning medieval architecture including the Historical Museum of Gotland and the Dominican Monastery of St. Nicholas.  Sweden is also home to featured jewelry designer Anna-Karin Hallström.

GIORGO DAMASKOS

18-Karat Gold Black Cuff Bracelet
with Sapphires and Diamonds

With gorgeous landscapes and the incandescent glow of golden sand the beauty of Corfu, Greece lends itself perfectly to a tranquil, relaxed mindset.

Corfu is also a great place to brush up on history within the walls of its many museums.  Greece is also home to featured jewelry designer Giorgo Damaskos.

PATRICIA JARA

Sterling Silver Florid Finesse Collar Pearl Necklace

There is a plethora of sun-drenched beaches to see in northern Peru.  

Among these is Mancora Beach; a touch of heaven on Earth where the sun shines nearly every day and the color of the sea transforms from emerald green to blue.  Peru is also home to featured jewelry designer Patricia Jara.

ILEANA ROJAS-BENNETT | MALEKU JEWELRY DESIGNS

Sterling Silver Pod Pearl Earrings

If you are a daring sort and like the ferocious beauty of volcanic activity, then Costa Rica’s Arenal Volcano National Park is for you. 

With an ever present stream of glowing lava, the Arenal Volcano has become a tourist attraction where park rangers take visitors through safe, lava-free trails.  Costa Rica is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Ileana Rojas-Bennett.

BREDA HAUGH

18-Karat Gold and Sterling Silver Pendant Necklaces
from Desert Leaves Collection

A historical site shrouded in lore the Rock of Cashel, located in the Irish province of Munster, is an area touted as one of Europe’s “most remarkable collections of medieval architecture”.  Ireland is also home to featured jewelry designer Breda Haugh.

QUOTABLE GEMS | GEORGE CLOONEY

After doing One Fine Day and playing a pediatrician on ER, I'll never have kids. I'm going to have a vasectomy.