Welcome to the T List, a newsletter from the editors of T Magazine. This week, we’ve turned it into our Valentine’s Day gift guide, with recommendations on what we’re coveting for ourselves and eyeing for our loved ones. Sign up here to find us in your inbox every Wednesday, along with monthly travel and beauty guides, and the latest stories from our print issues. And you can always reach us at tmagazine@nytimes.com. NEW FLAMES Incense and Burners for Everyday Ceremony
The gift of incense is an invitation to tap into the senses. For Aquilaria, the debut incense by the Brooklyn-based studio À La, the brand’s founders, Karl Cyprien and Meg Cuna Cyprien, sought out multigenerational makers on Japan’s Awaji Island, where the fragrant sticks have been in production since the sixth century. Notes of resinous agarwood and patchouli are joined by Korean mint and sweet pine; a limited-edition porcelain box doubles as a low-profile burner. It’s an end-of-day reset for the couple, who have two young sons: “Once they’re both asleep,” Karl says, “the first thing I do is grab a match.” The Japanese brand HA KO’s washi paper incense strips are stand-ins for conversation hearts, with printed messages like “Cheer Up!” and “Sweet Dreams” that disappear into scented smoke. Sanga’s Yakusugi incense sticks, available in the United States through the New York restaurant Odo’s online shop, showcase a protected species of Japanese cedar by using upcycled sawdust from centuries-old trees. The incense cones by Fischersund — a sibling-run collective out of Reykjavik, Iceland, which includes the frontman for the band Sigur Rós, Jónsi — evoke their father’s experience as a shipyard mechanic with an earthy blend of birch tar and pine. Themes of nature and home carry through to collectible burners. Sea urchins in coastal California tide pools inspired the jewelry designer Lisa Eisner to create spiny incense holders in blackened bronze for the design studio and shop Commune. Traditional Korean roof tiles, round for ornamental use or curved to direct the flow of water, are reimagined as ceramic burners by the Toronto-based brand Binu Binu. Its founder, Karen Kim, chose glazes inspired by indigo, buncheong stoneware and onggi — the enormous brown fermentation jars that her mother used to play hide-and-seek in as a kid. And the New York woodworking studio Spatial Relations, led by Vincent Martinelli, models its carved incense burners on tumbled river stones. Inlaid brass rods accommodate different incense diameters and allow for the easy removal of unburned nubs — a key detail for Martinelli, who starts each day with incense and Brian Eno. “In life and in work,” he says, “I’m always trying to soften hard edges whenever possible.” Solid relationship advice. FRENCH CONNECTION Presents That Conjure Paris
Between the quayside picnic spots and Berthillon, the famous ice cream purveyor that attracts tourists to Paris’s tiny Île Saint-Louis, is a car repair shop that’s been around since the 1930s, with a vintage painted sign and a trove of classic car parts. It’s one of several hundred off-the-beaten-path addresses in the French illustrator Marin Montagut’s latest book, “Forever Paris,” which will likely contain surprises for even the most knowing Paris enthusiast in your life: the city’s last routiers, or restaurants for truck drivers; Art Deco pools that are open late; workshops in metal stamping and welding; a neighborhood video rental shop stuck in the 1990s and a single screen movie theater on the Left Bank. For a more immediate cinematic fix, there’s always a Criterion Channel subscription with plenty of expertly restored French New Wave films. If your Valentine leans more 1700s than 1960s, look to Antoinette Poisson for their papier-mâché take on a traditional French wedding box, finished in their classic hand-printed domino paper. In place of a trousseau, slip in a treasure or two from the Parisian atelier Astier de Villatte, like a moody candle that’s meant to evoke the Brutalist architecture and museum-going crowds of the Palais de Tokyo or a prim teapot sporting old-fashioned swirls of marbled endpaper, the perfect vessel for a late-night tisane. GOLD RUSH Candy and Flowers in the Form of Jewelry
This Valentine’s Day, indulgence takes a more permanent form as jewelers reinterpret sweets and flowers in gold and gemstones. At first glance, the Connecticut-based brand Mined + Found’s Sweet Life ring resembles a heart-shaped signet, but it swivels open to reveal five hand-enameled pieces shaped like tiny chocolates. The Brooklyn jeweler Mociun makes a chocolate bar charm featuring enamel segments wrapped in 14-karat white gold. For those who prefer fruit flavors, CCWW Designs offers the Lifesaver-like Sweet Things pendant, carved from carnelian agate and etched with the word “everything” on the front with two diamonds;a gold heart is set on the reverse. The London-based designer Cora Sheibani’s Gugelhupf ring uses pink opal to emulate the Viennese Bundt cake of the same name. For Foundrae’s limited-edition Radiating Heart pendant, an 18-karat gold medallion is set with bonbonlike pink tourmalines and garnets. The New York designer Brent Neale’s wine bottle pendant is made of hand-carved garnet and comes suspended from an 18-karat gold chain. The jeweler Sophie Joanne, who’s based in Amsterdam, also uses garnet, as the base of a floral ring that’s inspired by Andy Warhol’s 1964 flower series and set with pink tourmaline. For a pair of desert rose-shaped earrings, the sixth-generation jewelry company Boghossian formed sandy-pink guava quartz into overlapping petals that are accented with half-moon, triangular and oval diamonds set using the brand’s signature “kissing” technique. A more literal expression of a kiss comes in Marie-Hélène de Taillac’s red-lipped charm, made of garnet and set in gold. UPGRADED EDIBLES Cannabis-Infused Confections
The newest wave of cannabis-infused confections goes beyond the average gummies or chocolates (and can accompany a candlelit dinner as well as a solo rom-com marathon). In 2017, Jenny Wichman, the founder behind the smoke-ware brand Yew Yew, set out to create more feminine, sculptural weed accessories. With her latest offering, the Yum Yum gummies, she wanted to make her dream edible: “something light, fun and easy to be productive on,” she says. The bright green sweets are flavored with ceremonial-grade matcha and real strawberries. Sundae Flowers, a Seoul and New York-based cannabis company, infuses its mochi edibles with tapioca for a fluffy, dessertlike texture, and flavors range from aloe grape to lychee dragonfruit, available in both 5 and 10 milligram doses. Miss Grass, another woman-owned weed brand, sells watermelon blood orange mimosa gummies that also include mood-enhancing ingredients such as lion’s mane mushroom, ginseng and vitamin B12. If you’re more chocolate-inclined, Rose Los Angeles has bars that combine flower rosin with seasonal ingredients, like the Cuckoo Bananas bar, which uses Papantla vanilla beans, or one featuring dried Japanese hachiya persimmons. The Mole Madre bar, which is layered with chile, fruits and spices, was made in collaboration with Huerik Palos, the pastry chef at Pujol in Mexico City. SWEET SPOTS Cabins Built for Two
There is nothing quite so romantic as spending a few days in a remote cottage with a partner. Fortunately, the tiny house trend seems to be influencing the hospitality scene: Many hoteliers are offering stand-alone accommodations in far-flung locations, the most dramatic of which might be the nine wooden cabins at the Norden Camp, on the Tibetan plateau in northwestern China. The stylishly rustic complex, set near two rivers and among low hills, was founded (and completely rebuilt this year) by Yidam Kyap and his wife, Dechen Yeshi, who also runs Norlha, a textile company that produces artisanal blankets and shawls woven from khullu, or fluffy yak down. In Western Australia, a company called Heyscape is building modern, off-grid tiny houses, the latest of which are located in the coastal town of Denmark, a four-and-a-half-hour drive from Perth. In Scotland’s Cairngorms National Park, the 120,000-acre Atholl Estates host guests in the Glen Glack cabins, five contemporary wooden cottages that each feature a veranda and wood-burning stove. A four-hour drive north, near Scotland’s northernmost coast, is the latest project from WildLand, one of Europe’s most ambitious rewilding conservation projects. In May, the owners plan to open Hope, an all-inclusive retreat with a historic hunting lodge as well as a collection of restored cottages (book An Cala, a cabin with a private wood-fired hot tub set in the forest). Activities include hikes with field guides, lunches cooked over fire and sound-bath sessions by the lake. Three years ago, the Greek entrepreneur Angelos Ismailos started Thavma Cyclades, a project to restore former fishermen’s houses, which he then rents out to travelers; the latest is Thavma Kimolos, located on the tiny island of Kimolos next to the more glamorous Milos. In Colorado’s Rockies, the cabins at Dunton Hot Springs — a property built on hot springs in a restored 19th-century ghost town — have been newly renovated. Christoph Henkel, a co-owner of Dunton, says the most romantic of the bunch is Major Ross, which has a soaking tub with a view of Wilson Peak. “Romance doesn’t come from excess,” he says, “it comes from quiet, stillness and the feeling that time has slowed down.” FRESH FACED Balms to Summon Sun-Kissed Skin
As a little girl, I was devoted to an iridescent jelly makeup palette that my grandmother must’ve bought me during one of our weekly trips to Macy’s. I’d smear cherry and tangerine hues onto my cheeks, creating a sun-kissed flush that delivered an early boost of confidence. When I more recently tried Makeup by Mario’s new lip and cheek Jelly Jar, I felt some nostalgia: It comes in shades ranging from a bright cherry red to a deeper, berry-toned brown. It’s buildable without feeling heavy and nourishes the skin with vitamin E, hyaluronic acid and castor oil. The formula is among a new wave of gel-based blush and lip tints. For a symbolic alternative to a conventional bouquet this Valentine’s Day, Chanel’s N°1 lip and cheek balm is enriched with oil from red camellia flowers. If you aren’t sure which color would be best for your complexion, try Fenty Beauty’s color adaptive cheek and lip stick — it reacts to the skin’s unique chemistry, such as pH levels and natural oils, to deliver a customized rosy finish. Milk Makeup’s Cooling Water Jelly Tint stick offers similarly pH-responsive shades that intensify with each application. SEA KISSED Chocolates That Aren’t Too Sweet
Stay on the right side of saccharine this Valentine’s Day by giving salted chocolate. Pump Street Chocolate, an artisanal maker based in Suffolk, England, is planning to release its first double origin bar on Feb. 2, combining Madagascan dark chocolate with sea salt from another single-origin producer: Halen Môn, a Welsh company that harvests it by hand on the shores of the Isle of Anglesey. Anglesey sea salt also makes an appearance in the London-born brand Rococo Chocolates’ melty, disc-shaped |
