Alejandra Alonso Rojas weaves a global heartbeat into all of her designs. Born in Madrid, she trained at some of the world’s most prestigious design schools, including London’s Central Saint Martins and New York’s Parsons School of Design, before opening her eponymous studio in Manhattan. “The landscapes, culture, and energy of Spain breathe life into my work. Artists like Dalí and Picasso inspire the vibrant colours and emotional depth in my creations,” says Alonso Rojas, who also celebrates the women in her family for instilling in her an appreciation for handcraft, from leather and knitwear to fine Camariñas lace.
Here, she discusses essential things to do in Madrid, which will always remain a favourite destination.
“Travel is integral to my design work. It expands my perspectives,” says Alonso Rojas, wearing one of her designs. Photograph by Anastasiia Duvallié.
Shop
Boutique Browsing: “I recommend the Malasaña and Chueca districts for unique boutiques and artisanal shops. The Barrio de Salamanca offers luxury shopping [that] feels more personal compared to typical tourist spots. El Rastro is a very special place where you can find true antique gems.”
Recharge
Palacio de Cristal conservatory in El Retiro Park. Photograph by Sanguer / Adobe Stock.
El Retiro Park: “Its lush greenery and tranquil atmosphere offer a peaceful retreat from the city bustle, inspiring a sense of calm and reflection. The beauty of nature boosts my creative energy.”
Photograph courtesy of Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza.
Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza: “[It] features an impressive collection of paintings from the Renaissance to the modern era, showcased in a stylish former palace. Some favourites [of mine] include Self-Portrait Wearing a Hat and Two Chains, one of Rembrandt’s finest self-portraits, and The Annunciation Diptych by Jan van Eyck.”
Eat and Drink
The beguiling interiors of Dani Brasserie.
Dani Brasserie: “At Four Seasons Hotel Madrid, I find Dani Brasserie particularly enchanting. Chef Dani García’s culinary creativity is impressive, providing a unique dining experience that perfectly aligns with the hotel’s luxury. But don’t just stop at Dani Brasserie: I highly recommend saving some time to check out his other restaurant, Leña, which focuses on smoke-infused steaks.”
Café de Oriente: “The view of the Royal Palace enhances a serene morning coffee. It’s an ideal spot for contemplation and inspiration. Other good [casual] spots around the city are La Cueva de 1900, Toma Café, and Pan de Lujo.”
The best gifts have meaning. And when they also happen to involve diamonds, they’re even better.
Case in point: jewelry featuring clustered diamonds by Harry Winston. The origin story of this iconic style begins on a chilly December night in the 1940s, when the legendary jeweler spotted snow glimmering on a wreath. Right there, at the front door of his estate, he had an epiphany. Just as the wreath spotlighted the beauty of the holly leaves, not the branches, diamond jewelry should emphasize the gemstones, not the settings.
Winston promptly approached his head designer, Nevdon Koumroyan, with this novel idea—and the Winston Cluster, an enduring classic, was born. The clustering technique groups different cuts of diamonds set at varying angles to create a three-dimensional piece that feels more like poetry than prose, more organic than geometric.
The composition would ultimately come to define the Harry Winston look. Today, the Winston Cluster continues to be a sought-after design, appearing on the necks, ears, wrists, and fingers of the world’s most discriminating tastemakers.
This season, consider dazzling that special person in your life with a cluster piece from Harry Winston—and tell them the truth: It was inspired by the spirit of the season.
Mention the word bespoke and it may conjure an old-fashioned image of Savile Row’s tailoring ateliers and elegant affairs with formal dress codes. (See our list of the best bespoke tailors in the world here.) Today, though, many brands are adopting a host of custom approaches to help broaden and deepen the calibre of their au courant offerings—see, for example, Frette’s bespoke service to produce customized one-offs among its linens collection or Gabriela Hearst’s just-launched Tailored Bespoke program, where clients can personalize a dozen different men’s and women’s designs.
In fact, you can upgrade an array of everyday items this way, opting to partner with an artisan to develop, design, and produce something that’s uniquely personalized. We’ve scoured the world for the best in class among those ateliers, to offer the ultimate bespoke gift guide.
Espresso Machine
A trained furniture maker, Daniel Schonknecht decided to deploy his design skills 10 years ago to launch Melbourne-based Specht, which produces limited-edition and one-off espresso machines. Now, among a certain cabal of coffee obsessives, he is renowned worldwide—70 percent of his business is international. One client shipped him a hunk of marble from the Netherlands so he could use it in a custom machine that would match a kitchen renovation. Typically, he and his team start with a standard, high-end machine from La Marzocco as a base. “They’re so adaptable; they have an effortless style,” he raves. From there, Specht will produce and add bespoke details, like the paddle of the brew heater or the steam knobs, as well as electroplate metal elements in a custom finish, a process that usually takes around six months. He’s hoping to soon establish his own metal shop where he can start from scratch, even building custom bodies for machines. “These are no different [from] sports cars,” he says. “It’s the same kind of obsession.
Knife
Tom Kerridge. Jamie Oliver. Margot Henderson. They’re all chefs at the cutting edge of cooking thanks to military veteran turned knifemaker Laurie Timpson, the owner of Savernake. Timpson’s signature concave blade knives are made to order in a former sawmill in England’s New Forest, where he lives off-grid with his family.
Tiles
If you fancy a subversively witty design detail, consider a custom Delft tile from Connecticut-based artist Katherine Verdickt, who stumbled into this niche after buying and renovating a Dutch Colonial home. At first glance, her blue-and-white designs seem like any classic Dutch-made tile, but look closer and you’ll find, for example, a pigeon or trash bags depicted in the examples she made for a New York City-centric project.
Home Fragrance
After a Hollywood A-lister relocated to London, perfumer Azzi Glasser helped him feel more at home, suffusing his new, four-floor residence in Britain with the same custom scent that wafts through his house back in America. Known for her perfumes—she has crafted fragrances for Jude Law and Helena Bonham Carter to help them embody characters on-screen—Glasser carved out an additional niche in home fragrance, helping country-hopping clients make their homes smell both distinctive and instantly familiar, wherever they might be. Come to her atelier to do the same, or she’ll happily fly out to work on location.
Coat of Arms
The best gift for any Game of Thrones or Harry Potter fanatic? A custom insignia, courtesy of Downey & Co. The London-based specialist printer will task its designers with personalizing that insignia with meaningful details, whether dogs or circuit boards—or even a rocket, as commissioned by Jeff Bezos. Once the artwork and engraving tools are produced, you can stamp that crest on anything, from stationery to the hood of your car.
Guitar
If you’re keen to score a handmade, custom guitar from London-based luthier Daisy Tempest, join the waiting list now: she can produce around eight such instruments annually, as every guitar requires between 300 and 400 hours of work, which means she’s already booked for the next six years. Her signature is exceptional materials, whether Honduran mahogany or striped Tasmanian tiger myrtle, and each guitar comes with its own storybook, filled with photos she takes as she builds it piece by piece.
Ornament
Handmade, mouth-blown glass Christmas ornaments have been a Polish tradition for centuries, so it’s fitting that designer Michael Peterson named his company Bombki, or “ornaments” in Polish. The London-based firm is acclaimed for its intricate and witty designs, each of which is clay-prototyped before being put into production, be it a miniature London taxi or a set of portraits of the wives of Henry VIII. Peterson and his wife, Zaneta, also accept bespoke commissions for such baubles and will apply their whimsical, technical know-how to nearly any challenge. The minimum order is 100, meaning that every tree in each of your homes can have the same ultra-personal décor.
Perfume
A bespoke fragrance is discreet, personal, exquisitely crafted over months, and known only to you and those fortunate enough to catch a hint. At Krigler, founded by Albert Krigler in 1904, the process involves a series of consultations (including scent discovery and ingredient selection), plus blending, aging, and specialized packaging. Atelier perfumery services are available at House of Krigler boutiques within Four Seasons properties in Houston; Washington, D.C.; Palm Beach, Florida; Beverly Hills, California; and Saint-Jean-Cap-Ferrat, France.
Watch
At Vacheron Constantin, an entire department, Les Cabinotiers, creates bespoke watches for high-level collectors, as well as record-breaking designs like the new Solaria Ultra Grand Complication–La Première (pictured). Revealed in March after eight years of R & D, the timepiece set a record for the most complications, 41, ever featured in a wristwatch. Not a bad way to celebrate the house’s 270th anniversary. —Degen Pener
Bicycle
Britain was once one of the world’s bike-making hubs, thanks to firms like Raleigh, before the industry imploded due to overseas outsourcing. Still, a few holdovers persist, including Derby, England–based Mercian, which started as a bike shop in the 1940s before expanding into manufacturing. It was teetering on insolvency last year before four avid cyclists rescued it and rebooted the company for a contemporary audience. Come to them for a custom-fit frame, engineered to offer minimum impact on your body and maximum comfort, plus details like name engravings. The only thing they can’t do is improve how you look in skintight Day-Glo Lycra.
Alvin Tjitrowirjo creates poetic beauty out of the underappreciated. Since opening his studio AlvinT in 2006, the Jakarta-based designer has distinguished himself by his sculptural, refined furniture made of rattan. Derived from various species of quickly growing climbing palms, rattan has long been deeply associated with Indonesian culture. Tjitrowirjo’s mission is to elevate and prize this sustainable material amid the daily onslaught of cheap, modern consumerism. “It’s not just about making beautiful products; it’s about developing a new type of awareness of rattan as a valuable heritage material,” says Tjitrowirjo, who works with several communities of rattan weavers and farmers across Indonesia. We asked him to share his insider guide to his hometown.
Indonesia Design District: “We recently opened a gallery [here]. There are about 100 tenants—furniture, lighting, everything for the home centralized in one curated complex.”
In addition to a great selection of men’s shoes, Archie offers custom tailoring.
Archie: “[The menswear store] is cool for their collection of Alden [shoes]. I’m a big fan.”
Sejauh Mata Memandang: “I like this [lifestyle brand] for their level of creativity in exploring batik, as well as their activism toward protecting the planet. They also now make denim out of recycled used denim.”
Do
Common Grounds, Terra Menteng Tennis Club
Terra Menteng Tennis Club: Common Grounds, “one of the pioneers of specialty coffee in Jakarta since 2015,” recently opened up a cafe-cum-tennis-club. “My favourite beans are Aceh Gayo, which balance between burnt chocolate and nutty with a slight bright citrus.”
Kota Tua: “Built by the Dutch, Old Town is filled with canals and squares and surrounded by charming colonial buildings. The northern part is filled with old mom-and-pop shops.”
Eat
Marinated Yamanaka scallops at August.
August: “One of the forerunners of bringing Indonesian cuisine to the next level—with a little bit of a French twist. They have [the dish] Foie PB&J, and their lamb loin is delicious.”
Pierre: “Located in Jakarta’s central business district, this French restaurant by the Union Group has an excellent quality of food and a classical European interior that won’t go out of style. The lounge bar is a nice place to get a good dose of socializing.”
Café Batavia is one of the oldest restaurants in Indonesia.
Café Batavia: “It used to be an office of the Dutch East India Company. I love how they have kept the original teak bar and floors. I always go for a window table to witness the chaotic and dynamic movement of people in [Old Town’s] Fatahillah Square.”
Bakmi Pulau Laki: “One of my favourite noodle [shops] is located in a neighbourhood where all the street names are names of islands in Indonesia. It’s a place to go for lovely, fresh handmade noodles with minced pork and chicken and fresh pork wontons.”
Unveil the statement piece of the season: Dolce&Gabbana’s jeweled Marlene Handbag. This limited edition of the Brand’s iconic silhouette reimagines timeless Italian design in vibrant fuchsia calfskin, finished with a structured top handle and a detachable gold chain for versatile styling.
Each bag is a celebration of Dolce&Gabbana’s fatto a mano artistry—playful in spirit yet refined in execution. With only 30 pieces available, the Marlene is more than an accessory; it’s a collector’s treasure designed to move seamlessly from day to evening. Claim your limited-edition Marlene Handbag, $5,795.
It’s also available to purchase in the Dolce&Gabbana boutique located at 248 N Rodeo Drive, Beverly Hills, CA 90210.
Taxes and shipping fees apply, while supplies last. Purchases will be shipped within approximately 1-2 business days of order. Offer is valid on orders shipping within the continental U.S., Alaska, Hawaii, and Puerto Rico.
