Marolsha Jewelry

When you live in a city like New York or Chicago, it's fairly easy to find your way around. For the most part, urban planners patterned these cities on a grid with numbered streets indicating one direction (East/West) and avenues or named streets indicating the perpendicular other (North/South). So if you're at my favorite Mexican restaurant in the East Village and want to get to my favorite all-veg diner in the Lower East Side, you can do so with ease simply by knowing the cross streets.

Joy Pendant

I fell in love with the Joy Pendant the moment I saw it. The sweeping, curling shape embodies a sensation of buoyancy. In it, I see a person spinning with excitement, astonished at their good fortune, then leaping up with arms outstretched, the only fitting expression of their happiness. The pendant does what it was meant to: it symbolizes joy. I began making my own jewelry in middle school and have become very discerning in my purchases since.

Fashion Muse Jewelry

I’ve never been a fan of shopping. This is somewhat because it is difficult and frustrating to find cute clothes that fit well when your body size and shape don’t match the norm (anyone out there want to design for a corpulent woman over six feet tall?), but mostly I’m just really good at talking myself out of making a purchase. Contrary to the problem many people have (that they buy too much), I am perpetually buying too little.

Zosterops Jewelry Shop

Zosterops' Jessie Cheng is a doll. Not an empty-headed plaything, like Barbie or Bratz, but the kind crooner Frank Sinatra used as a term of endearment. Jessie is the kind of gal who's so lovely and sincere that you immediately want do nice things for her.

Red Bracelet

Based in Tel Aviv, Israel, Luckxurys was started by designer Tali Rosen out of a personal frustration: she was unable to find a traditionally turquoise hamsa, palm-shaped amulet used in jewelery that is thought to protect a person from the evil eye. The tradition of using a hamsa (the Arabic word for the number five, hence the symbolism of a hand) to ward off evil began in the Middle East as a practice of Islam, and is now a part of Jewish mysticism. After searching unsuccessfully for her prized stone, Rosen decided to simply make one herself.

Raven Necklace

Ravens have captured human imagination since the beginning of time, and it seems I am no exception. My pewter raven necklace from Oberon Design is the most unique piece of jewelry I have ever owned. The image of a raven cast in pewter and strung on a black leather cord gives this necklace a medieval feeling.

Black Lip Mother of Pearl Round Earrings

Today is Black Friday, the mother of all shopping days in my country of origin where business profits turn from red to black and bank accounts from black to red. Someone in the mid-sixties must have had one hell of a sense of humor to time this day to fall directly after Thanksgiving. One day Americans join with their families in (mock) appreciation of their conquested homeland and the next they begin an altogether too similar conquest, only this time it's consumer goods they're after instead of arable land.

Japanese Floral and Forest Pendants

My first assignment for the Indian edition of Marie Claire was to write a book review of Kamila Shamsie’s novel Burnt Shadows. Having never written for a glossy mag before, I was quite excited about this opportunity—but nervous too. Bigger publications have a tendency to censor unflattering sentiments that might alienate potential advertisers, and when it comes to fiction, I’m not easy to please. If I failed to be impressed by Shamsie’s work, would I still get the gig?

Wings Earrings

When I was coming up, it was all the rage to pierce your ears in multiple places—the higher the potential risk for infection, the better. Multiple holes in your cartilage was not only standard; it was expected. I knew guys who wore safety pins in their ears, whether they'd been professionally pierced or not. I had a friend who let her high school boyfriend pierce her nipple with a safety pin too.

Tooth-y Post & Live Life/Love Life Earrings

I hover in that funny in-between space of generations. Having come into this world in 1980, I teeter between Gen X and Gen Y status. I remember the Reagan presidency, the first Gulf War, and the fall of the Berlin wall—though I didn’t really understand the impact of any of these things at the time.

Two Roads Necklace / Forever Necklace

Cloudberries—also known as 'bakeapples'—are a tiny fruit found in the Northern Hemisphere. Like jewelry designer Ioulia, who hails from Espoo in the Helsinki municipality of Finland, cloudberries thrive in colder climates and produce rich color. Influenced by their delicate vibrancy, Ioulia named her shop for the cinnamon-colored berries. In her beautiful handcrafted designs, it's easy to see the simple but elegant inspiration. I’m a sucker for pretty gift wrapping.

BooBoo Unisex Wrist Bracelet, Faded Prints, Burgundy Flower

Fashion designer Renia Pruchnicki began making Truth belts a bit by chance. Previously working as an outdoor gear designer, her employer closed their doors in 2001. From her small studio in Toronto, with a bit of savings, a small loan, and her vault of skills, Truth was born. Renia had no experience working with leather, so she began making vegan belts with faux leather textiles.

Turquoise and Carnelian Sterling Silver Earrings

You can’t get Mexican food in Kolkata to save your life. Sure, some places say they have Mexican, but when you get there all you find is some wack version of nachos that are so tasteless and bland that even the most spice-phobic person would beg for something to liven up the dish. You can get passable tapas if you’re willing to spend a pretty penny, but that's hardly the same. In other words, if you want the real deal, you’ve got to make it at home. This lack of Mexican food here makes no sense to me considering the abundantly similar ingredients used in Bengali and Mexican cuisines.

Lucky Jade Collection Ring

Lately I am most offended by one thing, and that thing is cliché. Cliché is so offensive to me because it is steeped in one’s inability to be creative. Whether Jon Stewart wearing a fat suit in order to get cheap laughs about American obesity or trolls who hurl sexist epithets on feminist-y blogs, my tongue goes into automatic clucking mode when the formulaic is, well, formulated.