The jewelry industry’s most peripatetic souls dish on their favorite destinations, watering holes, must-have items, and things they’d never ever do again
Globalization has been a buzzword for at least two decades, but jewelers have lived it for centuries. Following a gem from mine to market has always been an international affair—which explains why JCK’s editors have racked up air miles to India, Italy, Hong Kong, Thailand, and Switzerland this year alone. But that’s nothing compared with the jewelry designers, retailers, and manufacturers who are really on the move, sourcing metals and stones, working with artisans in far-off lands, and attending trade fairs in cities around the world. Now, on the brink of summer vacation, who better to ask for travel advice, favorite restaurants, and bucket list destinations than a cohort of globe-trotting jewelers?
Danielle Zino
CEO and creative director
Danielle Zino
New York City
Favorite travel destination: Japan (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Sukiyabashi Jiro sushi in Tokyo.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: White shark cave diving in Cape Town, South Africa.
One thing you won’t leave home without: Hand cream.
The place that tops your bucket list: Australia (pictured, top).
Lori Kaplan
Designer
Lori Kaplan Jewelry Design
New York City
Favorite travel destination: Paris (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: 1884 Restaurante Francis Mallmann in Mendoza, Argentina.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Ski in Lake Placid, N.Y.
One thing you won’t leave home without: AmEx.
The place that tops your bucket list: I don’t have one.
Anna Sheffield
Designer
Anna Sheffield
New York City
Favorite travel destination: Any island in Greece—but most especially Patmos!
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: The Love Apple in Taos, N.M.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Backpacking in Burma. It was epic done just once, but I like things too much to limit travel to that small of a piece of luggage.
One thing you won’t leave home without: Goe oil: amazing for dry hands on the plane and makes everywhere you open it smell amazing.
The place that tops your bucket list: At the moment, Portugal (pictured).
Waris Ahluwalia
Founder and designer
House of Waris
New York City
Favorite travel destination: Secret, empty, almost deserted beaches in the Caribbean or Thailand (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Kronenhalle in Zurich. Delicious food in a century-old restaurant with dark wood walls covered in art by Rodin, Matisse, and Chagall, to name a few.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Taking a bicycle ride up to Noël Coward’s estate in Jamaica. It’s a punishing steady-incline ride up and up and up.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My Cultivist membership card. It gets me into my favorite museums around the world.
The place that tops your bucket list: Africa. I’ve been to a few countries, but there is so much more to explore.
Brian Korner
Senior vice president
Belcorso Jewelry Manufacturing
New York City
Favorite travel destination: Thailand.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Strip House in New York City (pictured).
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Bungee jumping in Cancún [Mexico].
One thing you won’t leave home without: A phone charger.
The place that tops your bucket list: Antarctica.
Joanne Teichman
Co-owner
Ylang 23
Dallas
Favorite travel destination: London in the fall during Frieze Art Fair, and San Miguel de Allende, Mexico (pictured), for New Year’s Eve.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Oro at Belmond Hotel Cipriani in Venice.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Low-flying seaplane through the snowcapped mountaintops from Whistler to Vancouver, Canada. Emphasis on “low-flying”—lots of mountaintops almost touching our wings!
One thing you won’t leave home without: Lots of phone and iPad chargers. Lots.
The place that tops your bucket list: Jaipur [in northern India].
Priyanka Murthy
Founder and chief designer
Arya Esha
Jacksonville, Fla.
Favorite travel destination: I’ve traveled to over 70 countries, so this is really difficult. Tanzania (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Jimmy Woo Thai in Berlin.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Learning how to shoot an AK-47 in a former Soviet bunker in Riga, Latvia, with my teacher, who was a curmudgeon that didn’t speak a lick of English. He just kept yelling at me to shoot by saying, “Hello, hello, hello!”
One thing you won’t leave home without: Passport.
The place that tops your bucket list: Antarctica.
Dave Bindra
Vice president
B & B Fine Gems
Los Angeles
Favorite travel destination: Florence, Italy. I could spend weeks in the Uffizi (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Mott 32 in Hong Kong. From the superchic decor to the music and overall vibe, I could eat there every night I’m in that city. Also, the Iberico barbecue pork might be the most delicious thing I’ve ever had—next to my mother’s cooking, of course.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Probably sleeping on the outside deck of a houseboat while backpacking in south India. Incredible starlit skyline, but let’s just say the mosquitoes got the best of me.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My friends love to make fun of me for this, but I never travel without sanitizing wipes.
The place that tops your bucket list: Right now, it would have to be Machu Picchu.
Maricha Genovese
Designer and owner
Maricha Genovese
Somerset, N.J.
Favorite travel destination: Capri, Italy (pictured).
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Kitchen Table in Tulum, Mexico. Get the octopus if you are brave.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Swimming in shallow ocean water, where the bottom was covered with stingrays.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My Bullet Journal.
The place that tops your bucket list: Barcelona, Spain.
Lepa Galeb-Roskopp
Designer
Misahara
New York City
Favorite travel destination: South Africa for my most peaceful state watching the animals (pictured); Montenegro in the summer because it has the warm sea, mountains, and lifestyle; and Europe throughout the year—something always different and the history is so fascinating.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Il Pellicano in [Tuscany,] Italy.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Hot laps in a Formula 1 three-seater clocking 150 mph with pro driver Didier Theys.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My face creams.
The place that tops your bucket list: Kenya and Tanzania this June.… Looking forward to seeing the great [wildlife] migration.
Kathy Rose
Designer & co-owner
Roseark
Los Angeles
Favorite travel destination: Bodrum, Turkey.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Argos in Cappadocia [Turkey].
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Skydiving in Apple River, Wis.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My jewelry and essential oils.
The place that tops your bucket list: Sailing down the Nile in Egypt (pictured).
Jim Rosenheim
Owner
Tiny Jewel Box
Washington, D.C.
Favorite travel destination: Paris.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Tamarind Tribeca in New York City.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Climb Machu Picchu.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My cellphone and my AmEx card.
The place that tops your bucket list: Southeast Asia (pictured).
Lisa Bridge
President and chief operating officer
Ben Bridge Jeweler
Seattle
Favorite travel destination: There are simply too many wonderful places to count! My husband and I went to Japan on our honeymoon and fell in love. The culture, the food, the people—all wonderfully fascinating.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: We had an incredible meal at Gaggan restaurant in Bangkok. We had seen the [owner Gaggan Anand] featured on Netflix’s Chef’s Table and were blown away by our dining experience! The creativity of the food and the mysterious way it was presented made for a magical evening. We were even lucky enough to be seated at Gaggan’s test kitchen and had the food presented by the chef.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: I’m game for an adventure, and when it doesn’t go right you just end up with a better story later.
One thing you won’t leave home without: I won’t leave home without my running shoes. I love to take in a new place on foot. I get a feel for the landscape and architecture before the day gets started.
The place that tops your bucket list: I am anxious to get to Cuba (pictured) soon! I want to experience it before there is too much change. I love the vibrant pictures I have seen and the sense that it is from another era.
Paul Schneider
Co-owner
Twist & Twistonline
Portland, Ore.
Favorite travel destination: Naoshima Island, Japan.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Barbuto (pictured) in the West Village, New York City.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Fishing trip to Christmas Island in the South Pacific.
One thing you won’t leave home without: My AmEx card.
The place that tops your bucket list: I don’t have one.
Laura Freedman
Owner
Broken English
Los Angeles
Favorite travel destination: Deià in Majorca, Spain.
Best restaurant you’ve been to on your travels: Midwood Smokehouse barbecue bar in Charlotte, N.C.
A supposedly fun thing you’ll never do again: Cliff diving in Maui (pictured).
One thing you won’t leave home without: A hair tie.
The place that tops your bucket list: Pink sand beaches in Bermuda.
(Japan: Tom Blachford and Kate Ballis/Art Partner; Australia: Ikun/istock/Getty; Paris: Nikada/E+/Getty; Portugal: Inacio Pires/EyeEm/Getty; Thailand: Viktor_Gladkov/istock/Getty; Strip House: courtesy of Strip House; San Miguel de Allende: Ferrantraite/istock/Getty; Tanzania: Jacob Eukman/istock/Getty; Uffizi: Sylvain Sonnet/Photolibrary/Getty; Capri: Flavio Spugna/moment/Getty; South Africa: South Africa Tourism; Egypt: SilvereG/istock/Getty; Southeast Asia: Aleksandar Georgiev/e+/Getty; Barbuto: Jeffrey Prehn; Cuba: Bruno M Sbarreto/istock/Getty; Maui: Lev Savitskiy/moment/Getty)