10 years ago, our founder, Nicole Parker King, turned her travel obsession into collectible travel charms.
Today, she’s sharing her "Top 10 of All Time."
And if you want to get the scoop on all things JSC, take a listen to this episode of "Truckin' On with Ward Richmond."
My passport book and passport books in general have been an endless source of inspiration to me. I was having a think about my own passport’s stamps while on a massage table in Sri Lanka when the “lightbulb” moment for Jet Set Candy hit me. So, I knew that if there was one charm we had to get really right, it was going to be a passport book.
Well before launching the company, I had been working with the factory on a Passport Book charm but, as it turns out, it was technically challenging to make the charm exactly how I wanted it. Not just with a front and back cover, but with an additional page inside that could also flip. Though the demand was there and time was ticking, I didn’t want to settle for a simpler version. I’m so glad we held out until we got it just right. I love the enamel version for its pops of color on each page and the non-enamel version with all its super-detailed stamps.
But the variety doesn’t stop there. Shortly before the passport book charm hit our digital and physical shelves, JSC partner, Delia, suggested that we also offer a completely Bespoke Passport Book charm available only in solid gold. I loved the idea and thought that others might, too. I expected to sell a few here and there – I had no idea just how popular this one-of-a-kind charm would be.
I still personally lay out the designs for every single Bespoke Passport Book charm. I really enjoy doing them and seeing all of the wonderful places our customers have visited and which countries they hold special memories for. I also love seeing all of the different types of engravings people have added to the back cover including initials, names, dates, quotes, thank yous, poems, psalms, song lyrics, you name it.
2) THE RAJASTHANI PUPPET CHARM:
Just before I turned 8 years old, I went on a month-long trip to India. My mom was working on an India-themed promotion for a major U.S.-based retailer. My dad and I got to come along with the team as they photographed various parts of the country, made arrangements to purchase items and met with various influential Indians.
It was an amazing experience and I fell in love with the all the smells, tastes, colors, and surprises that the country had to offer. I think it was my mom who suggested I have an India-themed party for my upcoming birthday that year so during the trip we also shopped for favors and decorations. We went absolutely overboard because the prices were so affordable compared to the USA, so brace yourself or a list that I now realized was completely over-the-top.
As favors, we bought local candies along with hundreds of real glass bangles in Old Delhi; real garnet necklaces from a houseboat in Srinagar, Kashmir; mother of pearl inlaid replicas of the Taj Mahal; mirrored camel and elephant trinkets; and, of course, a real hand-carved wooden Rajasthani puppet from Jaipur for every single guest.
For the décor, we secured lots and lots of hand-cut paper and foil decorations. We also had four custom outfits made for me and my three best girlfriends to wear at the party, constructed by a local tailor using the antique mirrored and embroidered fabric my mom had fallen in love with. My mom bought extra luggage just to be able to schlep back what we'd collected.
Ever since that first trip to India, I have always loved Rajasthani puppets, especially the two-sided kind with a man on one side, a woman on the other.
It was truly a transformational trip in more ways than one. Years later, I met and was dating my soon-to-be-husband, Chris. He was an Australian diplomat and we were trying to figure out a post that made sense for him but that was also a place I would be willing to move to. There were plenty of locations that I rejected but then a post in Delhi, India arose. Chris had never been to India and I hadn’t been back since that trip when I was 7 and ¾ but I knew I wanted to return. Based solely on that childhood journey (and little else), we decided to move to Delhi and spent almost four years there before returning to NYC in 2014. India definitely didn’t disappoint the second time around either.
When I first designed our Rajasthani Puppet charm I knew it must feature pink enamel (at least!) and had to be two-sided with a man and a woman. And, of course, the charm had to have moving parts just like a real puppet.
Whenever I wear this charm, even now, I swear I feel like I’m in Toy Story and find myself keeping an eye on the puppet: “Wait, are you raising your hand?...Why are you looking at me like that?”…100% fair if you think I’m crazy but I swear these guys have minds of their own!
When I was growing up, I had the rare privilege of traveling to Ireland every summer to visit my maternal grandparents. Both of my grandparents were American- born but split their time between Garden City, New York, and a charming little town of 300 people in Southern West Cork, called Glengarriff. Here, they would spend five months a year during the warmer months and since my grandfather was a maritime lawyer with mostly international cases, he was able to work remotely.
My cousins and I were all obsessed with all of “exotic” candies that we could find in Ireland. Most of these candies were British and some were even from American-owned companies but were simply packaged differently. Our Kit-Kats had orange wrappers, theirs were red; their Almond Joy and Mounds bars were in blue and red packaging like ours but they were both called “Bounty” instead; and what we called a “Snickers” bar, they called a “Marathon” (identical branding except for the name). We loved Cadbury’s Flake, Fruit & Nut, and Caramello as well as Aero and Yorkie bars. Bizarrely, for a time, the logo on the “Yorkie” bar was updated to include a simplified female icon—same symbol you’ll find on a bathroom sign—in the center of the “O” with a slash mark through it and a tagline underneath that read, “Do Not Feed the Birds” (Birds being British slang for females/girls). Apparently, the Yorkie was supposed to appeal to a male audience but I never got the memo! Truly odd.
There were also “wine gums” which I think we liked for the small possibility that they might have been made with a drop of something very “adult” more than we did for the actual taste.
My favorite of all of these candies were Smarties. Smarties were basically oversized M&Ms—milk chocolate with a candy-coating—but they came in much prettier colors and were sold in these fun tubes. Smarties were the candy that I missed the most when I would be back stateside. I spent a lot of time as a little kid thinking about Smarties and wondering why M&Ms couldn’t take a page from their book: Ditch the two brown shades and make some prettier colors. M&Ms FINALLY replaced the tan candies with blue in 1995 (hooray for progress!!) but even after all of these years, Smarties are still the GOAT of candy-coated chocolate rounds IMHO.
The British Candy charm was one of the original 3D charms we launched. It had a lot of personal meaning for me but I also just loved how FUN it is with all of its candy-colored enamel pieces spilling out from the tube just like the real chocolates would. I’m pretty sure most people don’t notice this, but I also included a little Union Jack detail on each of the “candies.” I love including little so-called Easter Eggs, surprises that people may not discover until years after owning a piece. A candy charm seemed like the perfect hiding spot for one of these “eggs"!
The famous mid-century designer, Charles Eames famously said, “The details are not the details. They make the design.”
This is one of my favorite quotes and I definitely am big on details. The details are where the love is. Plenty of suitcase charms are available and so if a charm has been “done” before—especially if it’s been done a lot—my goal is to make it “best-in-class.” If I can’t find ways to put a unique spin on it or enhance the charm in some manner, then I don’t want to touch it. Why bother?
I think our Vintage Suitcase charm is a great example of just how much love is poured into every design and each little detail.
And there are soooo many details here. Two-toned contrasting “hardware” and “realistic" buckle closures. A tiny engraved movable bag tag on the handle. Eleven unique vintage-inspired travel “stickers” in different shapes on four sides of the bag. And then, on top of all that, the charm opens to reveal a chain “strap” to secure what must be the world’s tiniest clothes.
I grew up in Texas, from ages 8 to 18 and again from 22 to 25, so it should be of little surprise that my favorite cocktail is a Margarita. Dallas is actually the birthplace of the frozen Margarita and Texas’s proximity to Mexico means that the Margarita is about as close to an official state cocktail as you’re going to get.
My go-to is a spicy Marg with a Tajin rim but whenever I’m in Dallas, I try to have at least one Mambo Taxi from Mi Cocina (their signature frozen Margarita with a sangria swirl). But really, as long as my drink is made with fresh lime juice, I’m good.
Given my Texas roots, it’s a bit shameful that we only launched the Margarita charm this year (2024) but I’m still very proud of how it came out. Have you seen the detail on that two-toned lime slice and salt rim?!
Writing this post has reminded me that Bethenny Frankel (inventor of the Skinny Girl Margarita) and Brooke Shields (you know, legend of the big screen) both requested that we make a Margarita charm over the years. I should send each of them one now…
Wow, there have been quite a few cool moments over the past 10 years when I stop and think about it. Bethenny Frankel has been a fan and supporter of the brand since pretty early days. She even put us on RHONY and featured us in an article she did for People Magazine.
Brooke Shields used to stop by our pop-up store on Bleeker Street regularly. On her first visit to the store, my mom said “Has anyone ever told you you look JUST like Brooke Shields?!” while ringing her up at the cash wrap. Brooke was completely gracious and my mom and she quickly struck up a meaningful rapport over their love of Ireland. Brooke would ask for my mom when she would pop in for gifts for her daughters and others.
In art school, I became friends with an eccentric professor many years my senior. His birth-given name was Herb J. Smokler (well, Herb was short for Herbert) and he was a massive pot smoker. He would always say “Nomen est omen” ( meaning, “your name is your destiny” in Latin).
Herb was a former lover of Andy Warhol’s. He was also a friend and personal psychiatrist to Jerry Garcia who had spent much time touring with the Grateful Dead. And he had stories to tell.
Herb was great company and used to host amazing parties at his fabulous art-filled 40-acre farm. He often wrangled me to be a co-host of sorts and caviar was ALWAYS on the menu as we both adored it.
I was tasked to invent new ways to serve the caviar—blinis of course, but also homemade potato chips, latkes, baked potatoes, pizza, you name it. The caviar became such a staple of these parties that one weekend we threw an “egg-themed” party with only eggs on the menu: soufflé with caviar, deviled eggs with caviar, scrambled eggs with smoked salmon and caviar, the list went on and on.
When I was designing the Caviar charm, I knew two things: 1) it had to be Beluga caviar since that was our favorite choice for our egg-filled fiestas (this dates me, I know!) and 2) it had to come with a requisite “mother of pearl” spoon since metal can interfere with caviar’s delicate taste. Yes, the devil is in the details (and in the eggs!).
I had a blast designing this charm. It was a total trip down memory lane for me. Back in the day, I used to smoke cigarettes (and plenty of my favorite people still do!).
The summer after finishing college, my friend Jessica and I bopped around Europe on Eurail passes. While in Paris, we picked up some local “Gauloise” cigarettes – maybe in the hopes of blending in a bit better?!
When the idea of creating a French Cigarettes charm popped into my head, I thought that there might be some other people out there who might also want one.
I’ve always been fascinated with cigarette packaging from a graphic design perspective—with all of the various requirements, warnings, etc. all jam-packed on a small surface area. When I was a freelance graphic designer, my business card was even loosely based on the front of a Lucky Strike pack with the tagline “It’s Tasty Design.”
I love this charm for its inherent cheekiness and for all of the little details we were able to squeeze in. Little Eiffel Tower icons decorate the “butts” of the three cigarettes and my French-speaking (and Gauloise-loving!) cousin helped me get the translation for the warning just right: Bijoux ne sont pas dangereux pour votre santé meaning Jewelry is not dangerous for your health.
8) SINGAPORE CHILLI CRAB CHARM:
I definitely consider myself a “foodie” and there is nothing I love more than hunting for the best local cuisine a place has to offer while traveling.
Singapore is a mecca for food lovers. Its geographic proximity to several different countries has resulted in food culture rich in influences from Malaysia, Thailand, China, Indonesia, the Philippines, in addition to Western influences, too.
Singapore’s National Dish is “Chilli Crab” and it’s a source of national pride. I tried it myself for the first time at the famed “Red House Seafood” during my first trip there in the mid-2000s. I make it a goal to eat it at least once on every trip I take there. Singapore also has the best hawker stands (local food vendors) so be sure to stop by the next time you visit this unique city-state.
Our Singapore Chilli Crab charm has a fantastically detailed crab component and I’m really pleased with how the moving chopsticks with “Singapore” in both English and Mandarin add an extra layer to the piece.
I idolized my maternal grandmother who was a brilliant force of nature. She was a huge influence and inspiration in both my life and for Jet Set Candy. So, I must include one of the many charms that regularly makes me think of her.
My grandmother was an always-in-a-hurry, always-busy, over-achieving type. She graduated from high school at 15 after skipping several grades and entered college at 19. And that was in 1930 if that tells you anything. She then had six kids. Overachiever. ; )
We would often go to my grandparents’ house on Long Island on weekends when I was growing up and I used to love spending time with my grandmother over a slice of crumb cake for breakfast.
My grandmother did The New York Times crossword puzzle every single day (of course she always finished it). It delighted me that she allowed herself this pleasure—even if she ended up doing half of it while standing or between other things that were pulling her attention.
I also loved “helping” my grandmother with these crosswords whenever I had the opportunity. She would sometimes consult me if she was stumped on a pop-culture- centric clue. During these shared moments, she also taught me the basics of crosswords for example: The tenses must match; abbreviations are often clues in and of themselves; Saturdays are hardest, Sundays are equivalent to Thursdays in terms of difficulty, but larger, etc).
In spite of the fact that these were early morning hours during weekends, my grandmother would almost always be in full makeup, wearing a dress, high heels, and a gold charm bracelet. She’d be bouncing between the kitchen table, where the newspaper was spread out, and the stove, where she could pour a fresh cup of coffee (made with her stovetop Italian-style Moka pot—a “percolator” as she called it —and always taken black).
I used to love hearing the jingling sound her bracelet would make as it brushed up against the Moka pot and would often use the sound as an excuse to ask her about the different charms on her charm bracelet. Grandmom had visited over 100 countries and many of her charms had been procured while on a trip.
My grandmother had a mini newspaper charm on her charm bracelet (so meta!) and it was one of my favorites. The top of the charm was engraved with The Times’s tagline, “All the News That’s Fit To Print.” I loved the fact that that the newspaper part was made of actual paper.
When I started Jet Set Candy, I knew that I eventually wanted to include an homage to this original newspaper charm design. It was just such a clever concept, well executed, and, other than an occasional listing on 1stDibs or Ebay, almost impossible to find these days. In typical JSC-fashion, we took pains over the details. We even ended up designing and producing our own mini newspaper to go inside after being unsatisfied with every miniature dollhouse newspaper sample we could get our hands on.
I would have loved for my grandmother to live to see Jet Set Candy. I miss her epic travel stories, like the time she climbed Mount Fuji in her trademark high-heels! I honestly believe she would have been one of our biggest fans and customers, even if she wasn’t related to me! Thinking of that puts the biggest smile on my face.
And speaking of New York, the Chrysler Building is probably my all-time favorite building, it’s just so beautiful up close and at a distance. An art deco style skyscraper, it completely steals the show even in today's NYC skyline. It was an obvious choice to honor it and this was another of the original 3D charms that we launched with back in 2014.
Not only does the charm honor the site of JSC headquarters but also embodies so much of the details and whimsy our “candy” has come to represent over a decade. I wanted to design something that could be worn in more than one way and had an unexpected reveal: cue the key to the city. This adorable extra (emblazoned with a tiny NYC inscription) hangs on a delicate cable chain and can be worn in or out.
Versatile, playful, decidedly adult, souvenir-worthy, and, of course, stylish, the Chrysler Building charm is everything Jet Set is and aspires to be.