If it feels like everyone you know is in Italy, it’s because half of them are. And if they’re not in Italy, they’re probably somewhere along the Mediterranean.

While much of the Mediterranean Sea consists of European coastline, it kisses the western border of Israel, too, and that’s exactly where Orit Elhanati, designer of eponymous Danish brand Elhanati, got the inspiration for his latest collection, Mediterranean Rock.

A rock Elhanati found in Israel’s Sinai desert ignited the idea of a collection inspired by the land of her family. Through jewelry, the rock has been reimagined in varying shapes, an ode to the mountains and cliffs of the Mediterranean region.

Comprising necklaces, earrings, and rings, Mediterranean Rock sees 18k yellow gold beautifully worked into a texture that you might believe could really be found in nature and adorned with gemstones like emerald, sapphire, citrine, and white topaz, as well as diamonds.

Handmade in the brand’s Copenhagen atelier, the jewelry is created using hammering, burning, and dripping techniques, which bear the results we are treated to here.

“Each piece I create is inspired by different places and people. I love using elements that I find from my trips around the world that highlight the relationship between humans and the natural environment,” says Elhanati. “With the Mediterranean Rock collection, there are elements of the sea and the mountains that have been worked into the gold, to give that special texture.”

The collection is available now from the Elhanati website, as well as at Bergdorf Goodman and Andreas Murkudis. Prices start around $1,140 (£870).

Top: Muse earrings in 18k yellow gold with orange sapphires, $1,276; Elhanati

Simply pull through the ear—an action that, admittedly, may have some feeling queasy—and voilá! You’ve got an eye-catching look, no fuss, no earring backs to worry about. A good threader can break up the repetition of a stud earring party, spicing up the group with its linear design, whether it hangs long or short or somewhere in between.

Sometimes called hooks or even “through” earrings, threaders are youthful, “it”-person fashion, especially when constructed of a dangling chain. But the charming style might appeal to shoppers of all ages and is not only for the young and young at heart, with many variations offering a sophisticated—and high-dollar—take.

Here (and above), 13 styles to thread on this summer and beyond.

Top: Itty Bitty threader earrings in 14k yellow gold, $246 (sold as singles); Talon

Jewelry designers are tuned in to pieces inspired by travel, with some launching collections influenced by distant places and vacation memories (this one from NeverNoT is a personal favorite).

And so these earrings by 18 Carat House are spectacularly on par with what many love to see this season: a good mix of luxury and whimsy, with a nod to exploring the world.

In one ear, a Bakelite moon against a backdrop of starry diamonds, the night sky made of inky blue sapphires. This earring alone is steadfastly classic, a take on celestial jewels consumers (and industry insiders) can’t get enough of.

In the other ear, a custom-cut Bakelite airplane, soaring around the globe, our deep blue waters represented in those same sapphires—and you can just make out pars of South America, North America, Africa, and Europe laid out in diamonds (if it were a map, it would be turned sideways).

Together, the earrings seem to champion exploration—be it to a multitude of continents or among the stars. The design is invigorating in its glittering presence, but also perhaps inadvertently makes a point through its fine materials and carat weight: Indeed, travel is a luxury.

The button shape of the earrings hits the note on an oversize stud trend we’re seeing at the moment, though it’s a timeless silhouette that has just gotten a recent oomph in popularity. A treasure such as this pair could never be considered “out,” but that fine jewelry with a hint of playfulness is right on the money at present.

Top: Earrings in 18k white gold with 6.09 cts. t.w. sapphire and 1.15 cts. t.w. diamonds, price on request; 18 Carat House

Macleod’s Catkin technique renders a beautiful scale pattern—one that might be reminiscent of a mermaid’s tail, a currently hot image in pop culture. But the design, achieved by hammering individual disks and soldering them all into place, has far more history than the TikTok-birthed mermaidcore.

“As a student at Edinburgh College of Art, I had a Saturday job in a Celtic jewelry shop in Edinburgh,” Macleod tells JCK. “A customer had come in to have a repair done, and on her finger she had this antique-looking ring with a kind of fish-scaley pattern on it. When my husband, Paul, and I went to get married, I wanted to make myself a wedding ring. The memory of this ring 10 years before came back into my head, and I gave myself two weeks to develop the idea. I didn’t want it to be an engraved pattern; I wanted it to be layered. So that’s where all the little discs came from.

“My inspiration has always been about antiques and objects directly from nature,” says Macleod. “My friend saw and likened it to a catkin flower, which you get on hazel trees and other kinds of trees in springtime. I liked the poetic nature that Paul and I were getting married in springtime, and it was this kind of symbol of new beginnings and things. That’s where the technique of that layering got its name from.”

The Memoried collection is sensational for summer: Incorporating shades of green and blue along with those seaworthy scales, it tells a tale of an underwater world, the kind where mermaids are real and adventures never end. But that’s just one interpretation—from a mind always dreaming of the sea. For Macleod, the collection evokes memories of a childhood spent outdoors.

“The colors are not quite earthy but a palette reminiscent of my beginnings and where I grew up—in the middle of nowhere,” the designer says. “As a child, they were the colors I could access via trees, bushes, and flowers, which my brothers and I always used to make wee dens [Scottish term for kid’s forts]. I would always make little things out of bits of slate and create drawings on them, which my friend and I would display in our dens like little galleries. So it’s reminiscent of the busyness of all that, of our galleries in the bushes.”

Now entering her third decade as a jeweler, Macleod has honed her aesthetic and learned a thing or two along the way. “I would advise budding designers to believe in themselves and not look,” she says. “It’s good to look at what’s happening around you design-wise, but try to develop your design style—that’s so important to carry you forward. Also [important is having] a thick skin, which doesn’t come naturally, I don’t think, to anyone, but you can build it up.

“That resilience will help to carry you through,” she continues, “because it’s not the easiest path when you’re doing your own thing. I started my business at 23, which felt natural then, but looking back, I was so young. That was quite good because I didn’t have children to support, so I could be freer and make mistakes. And that’s the thing: Over these 20 years I’ve made so many mistakes and learned from them, and I’m a better jeweler and a better businessperson.”

Top: Memoried Catkin ring in 18k yellow gold with blue tourmaline, 0.36 ct. emerald, and 0.07 ct. champagne diamond, £3,100 ($3,950); Alison Macleod

Never mind that my family was just on vacation in June—that might as well have been eons ago. It only takes a spin through social media to get me Googling “vacation rentals long weekend near me.”

No matter, it’s still summer. Whether I’m at the beach or the pool, or hiding out from the sizzling sun indoors, there’s a certain festive dressing this time of year inspires. Necklaces made with seashells, bracelets of beads, a gleaming hoop that seems destined for dinners-with-a-view, and of course, plenty of turquoise—they’re all part of the jewelry wardrobe this most wonderful season commands.

So while I have to resort to a staycation for the remainder of this summer, I can certainly do it in style—and so can all jewelry lovers, destined for travel or not. Below, some favorites for the season.

Top: Mermaid hoop earrings in 18k yellow gold with aquamarine and pearl, $3,562; Minka Jewels

I love a good flower—in a jewel, a print, a picture. Any variety, too. But most of all I love a daisy.

So I absolutely melted at the first sight of Kitty Joyas’ In Full Bloom collection, a new release inspired by the summer season in England, a vibrant, celebratory occasion.

I mean, the Daisy Chain choker (at top), the Dahlia studs—are you kidding me? Summer embodied. And the collection’s use of recycled silver and gold plating means it’s totally attainable for the season—and beyond—and the pieces lend themselves to be mixed and matched beautifully.

Below, the brand’s founder and designer Kitty Fuller gives JCK the lowdown on In Full Bloom and what else is in store for Kitty Joyas.

Can you share a little more about the ideas behind this line? 

In Full Bloom mixes new inspiration with our signature hammered textures and organic forms. The new collection draws on the bright vivid hues of spring and summer in the U.K.; this year has felt particularly full of bloom, and I have always been super inspired and happy around the color found in nature at this time of year.

Handcrafted daisy and dahlia silhouettes are peppered throughout the collection, while references to England’s vibrant summer palette have been embedded in playful, highly wearable earrings, rings, and necklaces. Garden green grass, sunset oranges, seaside blue hues, and floral pink tones are balanced with the use of recycled gold and silver, as well as some quintessentially English touches like the addition of baroque pearls.

As well as the English aummer, I found huge inspiration when I visited the Klimt and Mondrian exhibition at the Tate Modern in April. Visiting the exhibition allowed me to revisit the bench and some existing design ideas I’d been working on, and make much braver decisions about how I used color in the collection.

For me, inspiration has always been really instantaneous. I had been waiting a few months to get the right inspiration for a summer collection that felt authentic to my core design values, so I am over the moon to be able to translate my ideas for In Full Bloom into everyday, highly wearable jewelry. I dedicated a lot of time to perfecting this collection and making sure the proportions and sizes would suit our customers—I feel there is something for every occasion!

Which style is your favorite?

I am in love with the Daisy Choker—it feels bold and playful, but still a piece that can be worn and enjoyed in an everyday context. I adore it.

Take us through the creation process. How is the hammer technique done?

I began by sketching out every single idea and trialing out the different color options using my watercolor pencils. Once I had narrowed down the designs and color combos I like, I then got straight to it and bought some recycled sterling silver sheet and wire from my local bullion dealer in Hatton Garden. I then hand-drew (with a metal scriber) the designs and shapes and pierced these out with my bench saw—for me, this is key to be able to see pieces come to life before I make the final decision and solder them together. I use my Bronze Age hammer to create the “perfectly imperfect” shapes and texture to my pieces, and the hammer also helps to naturally form heated wire into more interesting, unique shapes.

For the enameling process, I use a cold cure enameling technique, allowing for much more possibility than the vitreous enamel technique. Cold cure means I have more flexibility in terms of color mixing and I’m able to add enamel to pieces that have soldered parts, unlike with vitreous enameling where I’d have to put the pieces in a kiln, and often this damages small solder joins.

Finally, pieces are locally cast, polished, and plated (using fair mined gold plating) in a family-run business partner that we work with in Hatton Garden.

What do you hope clients will feel when wearing this jewelry?

When everything suddenly comes alive in the U.K. around March/April, I always wonder how we live through the dark and gloomy winter months! This collection celebrates this joyful feeling of entering the new season, and my aim was to make people feel like this when wearing the pieces. Each piece is a nod to a forever summer feeling and aims to make people feel optimistic when they wear it—something I aim to deliver with any piece I design. While the collection is a spring/summer launch and based around a seasonal color palette, my hope for the collection is that, like all my designs, it becomes a seasonless forever favorite in someone’s jewelry box. I want people to buy, wear, and enjoy their Kitty Joyas jewelry all year round, for many years to come. This is why I launched Joyas Renew, a refresh service for pieces to be repolished, replated, etc., so customers can enjoy them for as long as possible.

Does the brand have any plans for other summer releases? What can we expect in the future?

Yes. Midsummer we will be launching a new style of pearl earrings in both gold and silver, which I am really excited about. Beyond this, as a small team, all of our energy is being channeled into our first fine jewelry collection, which will be live before the end of this year. This will be a huge moment for us, and we’re already well into the planning and designing process. I can’t wait to share more!

See the collection in its entirety here.

Top: Daisy Chain choker necklace in recycled sterling silver and 18k yellow gold plate, £545 ($690); Kitty Joyas

People wear the color scheme (along with stars and stripes) in the spirit of Independence Day, but there’s a broader trend that would make the purchase of goods featuring this color trifecta endure beyond the holiday: a sort of American nostalgia.

It aligns with what some in the fashion world have dubbed “heritage luxury”—brands are returning to their roots, going back to the basics that got them where they are. Burberry (not an American brand, obviously), for instance, is ditching the novelty spins on its popular items and paring down to minimalist classics—what it’s known for. Maybe it’s a quiet luxury thing, maybe we all just need a break from the noise, but Burberry certainly isn’t the only example, just a really good one.

And so we have this desire to seek out brands with heritage, with history, with a stability that helps us feel like we’re making a great purchase. There’s a reason American brands like Ralph Lauren, L.L. Bean, and Levi’s end up killing it in the vintage markets—they last. Younger generations are all about buying these iconic pieces secondhand, signaling a reawakening of classic American dressing (often with a current, individualized touch).

So might that red, white, and blue colorway get a bump in popularity? It seems likely given heritage brands’ affinity for the flag, but Americana never truly goes out of style. And these jewels below aren’t solely relevant come Fourth of July. Like Coca-Cola and red lipstick, they’re classics.

Top: Bracelet in 18k gold with 88.64 cts. t.w. sapphires, 9.76 cts. t.w. rubies, and 6.99 cts. t.w. diamonds, $146,200; Cicada

Part of Single Stone’s Cobblestone collection, the Calypso double-drop necklace undoubtedly received due attention when it made its debut at Couture a few weeks ago.

“This piece is a one-of-a-kind, with hand-set old cut diamonds,” Corina tells JCK. “Our retailers liked the individuality of the necklace and appreciated how the necklace felt when they tried it on.”

The necklace features the brand’s handcrafted Mini Club link for that chunky, heavy gold chain look consumers have picked up on as of late—and turns it up to 100 with the lariat-style addition of two sparkling spheres, covered with 517 diamonds.

“It is a true labor of love to create a piece like this, as each stone is hand-selected and -set to achieve our signature cobblestone effect,” Corina says. Cobblestone—familiar to Corina and her husband and Single Stone cofounder, Ari, from old streets they walked during their travels—inspired the collection that the brand has kept active for over 20 years.

“I wanted the Calypso double-drop necklace to feel super luxe yet understated at the same time,” says Corina of the piece, which was also inspired by the couple’s time spent restoring antique jewelry. “It is subtly luxurious and feels amazing on, with just the right amount of sparkle without being too flashy.”

As for the vibe at Couture (possibly a gauge of the current market overall), Corina says: “The mood was a lot more positive than last year, with stores returning to a pre-COVID feel. There was a lot of discussion about how to make our industry successful in today’s market, and everyone seemed very engaged.”

With jewels like these, consider us engaged too.

Top: Calypso double-drop necklace in 18k yellow gold with 34.4 cts. t.w. old and brilliant-cut diamonds, $99,700; Single Stone

The vacation hangover wears off, eventually, but not without you (ahem, me) securing a few island-worthy purchases to nestle among the knickknacks and wall hangings around the house.

I wish I had known of Paris & Lily‘s epic summer collection Golden Summer sooner.

Now that I do know, I can just bring a little bit of that beach vibe wherever I go. And the best part? It’s fine jewelry.

Paris & Lily’s founding director, head artist, and goldsmith Jennifer Odell grew up on Cape Cod, which along with nearby Nantucket island provided inspiration for the Montclair, N.J.–based brand’s Golden Summer collection.

“The Nantucket lightship baskets were a staple of my youth. My mom learned basket weaving with her friends and would share her beautiful pieces with my sister and I,” says Odell in her notes on the collection. “Earlier in my goldsmith career, my mom and I collaborated on the cuff. She wove a cuff for me, and I made gold caps adorned with diamonds—the piece has become a staple in my personal collection.”

While her jewelry has been crafted to honor the maritime culture and heritage of Nantucket, it is imbued with a summertime spirit that’s universal—and ideal for any seaside locale. And though the jewels might complement a swimsuit beautifully, it’s best they be kept on land. “They should not be worn swimming,” Odell tells JCK. “However, I complete them with a marine-grade finish, so a little moisture from handwashing is totally okay.”

As for how it feels to wear this woven-basket jewelry? “They are so comfortable and easy to wear, truly a laid-back luxe type of piece,” Odell says. “And although they are inspired by my summers on Nantucket Bay, they are gorgeous with a cashmere sweater. As well, they are all-gender; my son, who models them in the look book, wears one every day.”

Top: Monomoy Sunrise natural rattan and cane cuff bracelet in 14k yellow gold with 10k yellow gold caps and diamonds, $5,000; Paris & Lily

Take a walk through any museum displaying artifacts of ancient Egypt, China, and beyond and you’ll find adornments made with gemstones but also things like colorful beads, bone—and wood.

Those materials still show up in jewelry, and wood especially has gotten popular, whether as an answer to consumer demand or due to a bump in the material’s availability. Designers are using variations from petrified wood to ebony, cocobolo, and walnut in artful and interesting ways that diverge—though not that far—from typical gemstone pieces.

Wood jewelry isn’t necessarily shaking up the industry, but it does represent a departure from what many consumers consider the norm, and shoppers are on the hunt for that. For eco-conscious shoppers, who look for pieces made with found materials, wood jewelry can satiate their desire for what is understood to be less impactful on the environment.

You’ll find no complaints here about the newest influx of jewels using wood. Superstitious as one might be, these wood designs are unknockable.

Top: Fringe necklace in platinum with repurposed ebony and diamonds, $89,700; Emily P. Wheeler