28/08/2026
ESCAPE TASTEMAKER PICKS
Travel Through Their Eyes 🌴 Selin Kent SELIN KENT
New York–based jewelry designer Selin Kent creates fine jewelry rooted in myth, memory and meaning. Growing up in Turkey, she was surrounded by a culture in which adornment often carried significance beyond the decorative. That early understanding still shapes her work today, where symbols and traditions are translated into modern forms that feel both personal and entirely of the moment.
Perhaps unsurprisingly, she travels with an eye for objects that contain a little of where they came from. Mexican textiles from San Miguel de Allende. Hand-painted çini discovered in a Kadıköy workshop. A coral cornicello, passed from her grandfather to her mother and eventually to her, is worn almost every day. Her jewelry allowance, meanwhile, is disciplined: whatever fits inside one small box.
When New York becomes too much, she looks to nature. Summer at a secluded eco-lodge on Costa Rica’s Osa Peninsula, where mornings come with toucans and nights with the sounds of the rainforest. Winter in the Arizona desert, among saguaros, owls and very dark skies.
Joseph Campbell changed the way she thinks about myth. Brâncuși’s Bird in Space keeps her thinking about form — and a question that inevitably finds its way back into her own work: “How much can you take away while still retaining the soul of a symbol?”
Brazil is calling next. Increasingly, she says, even in her dreams.
—
𝘞𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘸𝘦 𝘱𝘢𝘤𝘬, 𝘸𝘩𝘦𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘦 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘰𝘣𝘫𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘤𝘢𝘳𝘳𝘺 𝘩𝘰𝘮𝘦 — 𝘵𝘳𝘢𝘷𝘦𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘢 𝘥𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘐𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘴𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘴𝘩𝘢𝘱𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘮𝘦𝘮𝘰𝘳𝘺, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯. 𝘞𝘦 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘮𝘢𝘬𝘦𝘳𝘴, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘤𝘳𝘦𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘮𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘣𝘳𝘢𝘯𝘥𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦𝘴 𝘸𝘦 𝘭𝘰𝘷𝘦, 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘦𝘦 𝘩𝘰𝘸 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘳𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘭𝘥, 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘪𝘯𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘣𝘳𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘣𝘢𝘤𝘬.