MORAN PORAT

Gold Plated Brass Necklace Nude-Grey
Fabric & Ribs Beads

Zefat, Israel is home to “an artist’s colony” where painters, sculptors and other craftsmen work in their studios, and put their wares on display in private galleries and alleyways.  Israel is also home to featured jewelry designer Moran Porat.

ANA SALDANA | REJOICE THE HANDS

Dreamcatcher Quill Necklace
with Vintage Concho & Natural Porcupine
Quills

Playa de Carmen, Mexico is perhaps a best-kept secret.  Just forty-five minutes away from Cancun, a tourist hot spot, this coastal locale boasts agreeable crowds, and fun activities rivaling activities in Cancun: windsurfing, snorkeling and swimming with dolphins.  

Mexico is also the ancestral home to featured jewelry designer Ana Saldana.

KATHRYN BENTLEY

Solid Engraved Brass Mollusk Cuff Bracelet
from Dream Collective

Initially known as the State Exposition Park, the Los Angeles California Science Center is considered one of the West Coast’s largest “interactive” science centers. 

Exhibits such as the World of Life, and World of Ecology provide insight and information about life processes and eco-systems. 

California is also home to featured jewelry designer Kathryn Bentley.

HELGA MOGENSEN JEWELLERY

Brass Bird Necklace

The rugged landscapes of the Finnish city Ivalo lends itself to such activities as canoeing, hiking and fishing. 

One of the city’s most unique pastimes is gold panning that takes place in the Ivalojoki River.  Finland is also home to featured jewelry designer Helga Mogensen.

DEBRA MITCHELL | TWISTED SILVER

Brass 60's Style Monogram Bracelet

Named for attorney Charles Lee Tilden, California’s Tilden Regional Park, located in San Francisco, is a popular attraction.  

Its 2,079 acres contains hiking, horseback and bicycle trails as well as a botanical garden and antique carousel.  California is also home to featured jewelry designer Debra Mitchell.

MARYAM KEYHANI

Batis Necklace from 2011 A/W Collection

Nir and Ardabil are two Iranian cities renowned in their own right.  The city of Nir is a conduit of the Silk Road.

With a prime location near the salty waters of the Caspian Sea and Lake Urmia, Nir has formed a thriving salt industry. 

The city of Ardabil on the other hand is famous for its carpet industry.  Iran is also the birth place of featured jewelry designer Maryan Keyhani.

ANA CERDA | INATANKA

Sterling Silver Corona Inca Choker Necklace

Beautiful beaches, including the Costa del Sol, are among many enchanting locations to see in Marbella, Spain. 

The Bonsai Museum and Arabian Wall are a few more interesting attractions to visit.  Spain is also home to featured jewelry designer Ana Cerda.

CORRINE ANESTOPOULOS | BIKO

Brass Third Eye Necklace with Labradorite

Characterized by layers of sedimentary rocks and glaciers the Canadian Rockies is an awe-inspiring sight. 

Scattered throughout the rugged terrain are five national parks that include Kootenay, Jasper, and Banff.  Canada is also home to featured jewelry designer Corrine Anestopoulos.

HELENA ROHNER

Brass and Thread Hoop Earrings

The stunning 14^th century fortress, Alcazar of Seville, is a remnant of southern Spain’s Mudejar and Almohade architecture.

The structure’s Garden of Vega Inclan features twenty flower beds intermingled with water fountains and walking paths.

Spain is also home to featured jewelry designer Helena Rohner.

JADE GEDEON | WE DREAM IN COLOUR

Brass Nimue Bangle Bracelet

A scenic hour’s drive away from the Port of Spain in Trinidad-Tobago is one of the country’s best known attractions, Maracas Beach.  

Visitors can drive up a mountain trail in order to take in a breathtaking view of the sandy landscape.  Trinidad-Tobago is also the ancestral home of Jade Gedeon.

RACHEL STEWART JEWELRY

Gold Mirrored Acrylic Soul Glo Earrings

In North Carolina, over two hundred years ago in 1799, the son of German farmer Johannes Reith (a/k/a John Reed) unknowingly discovered a large gold nugget on their land. 

Subsequently, this unearthing led to the erection of one of the USA’s first gold mines, the Reed Gold Mine.  North Carolina is also home to featured jewelry designer Rachel Stewart.

YURI KAWANABE

Japan's Nijō Castle is actually a composite of two palaces, the Ninomaru, and Hanmaru, as well as parts of Fushimi Castle. One memorable architectural detail of the Ninomaru Palace is its squeaking "nightingale floors," strategically designed to alert the Shogun of sneak attacks and assassins through bird-like squeaking. Japan is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Yuri Kawanabe.

Since beginning this blog, I have learned that whether or not a jewelry design is elaborate or simple every designer appreciates classic form.

Both styles of jewelry, after all, are built on the foundation of a simple line, curve, or angle.

Many complex jewelry pieces are born from precise conceptualizations. Many designers sketch these concepts, others allow instinct to take over, and the design builds itself in a sense.

A graduate of Tokyo National University of Fine Arts and Music, Kawanabe's dramatic, three-dimensional configurations are more like miniature sculptures than jewelry.

With the use of patinated and anodized brass, copper, gold, and aluminum, her aesthetic focus is capturing movement. The renderings are spectacular pieces highlighting beautiful, flowing curvatures and spiky angles.

"I have a fascination with form that expresses movement. I work with paper models before building a piece from flat metal sheets," she says.

"The process of cutting and folding the paper rekindles memories of my childhood when I would help my father make Japanese New Year's decorations, or other ceremonial decorations.

There were also local men and women who made ceremonial decorations with simple materials like bamboo, paper, and straw. Their crafts turned an ordinary village place into a wondrous space, but these special, decorated environments exist only for a short time. This is the basis of what I call ephemeral aesthetics.

On the other hand, jewelry is a stable long-lasting form of body adornment fashioned from metal. My work combines these two approaches; ephemeral forms in metal using minimum soldering, twisting, and folding. Metal is such a supple material, and it responds best to the most simple approach."

Through her collections Sosho, Oru, Wreath, and Coil Works, Kawanabe takes viewers on a vivid exploration of the soft, voluptuous curves of Japanese calligraphy, nature motifs, and the anatomy of a wire coil.

"When a wire winds to a shape of coil, it develops a variety of expressive forms," she explains. "Almost inevitably though it is the wire itself which seems to make its own decision as to which way it will transform shifting its balance spontaneously. The process seems like a growth of actual living form."

A veteran in the field for nearly 30 years, her powerful compositions garnered the Japan Jewellery Exhibition's Japan Jewellery Prize, and the Japan Jewellery Art Competition's Award of Excellence.
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Photo 1 (top right): Anodized Aluminum and Silver Soyogi Breeze Neckpiece from the Sosho Collection
Photo 2 (bottom left): Patinated Brass Orange Cascade Neckpiece from the Oru Collection

MICHELLINE SYJUCO

Having the namesake of American architect Daniel Hudson Burnham, Burnham Park in Baguio, Philippines is a lovely area with Mount Kabuyao serving as a looming picturesque backdrop. The Philippines is also the home of featured jewelry designer Michelline Syjuco.

SLIM BARRETT

Like many ancient castles, Ireland's Cabra Castle is one rooted in dramatic events involving warfare, and numerous owners.

Presently owned by the Corscadden Family, its ruins have been renovated into an 80-bedroom hotel. Ireland is also the birthplace of featured jewelry designer Slim Barrett.