TURNING MEMORIES INTO HEIRLOOMS

THE STORY OF GOLD CREATIONS sounds more like a Hollywood rom-com than a family business tale and is perhaps what makes the brand so special. Gold Creations was founded in...

THE ODYSSEY OF A SACRED SONG

Herb Frazier was captivated by a centuries-old funeral song and its ancestral echo. He had gone to Africa in the spring of 1994 to report on efforts to collect hospital...

CHARITY BEGINS WITH FUN

Been to a silent auction lately? A festival? A fair? If you have been, you were upholding one of Charleston’s favorite traditions—raising money to support a community project with swag...

WHERE EVERYBODY KNOWS YOUR NAME

TUCKED AWAY ON RESIDENTIAL SOCIETY STREET, is a place regulars have affectionately dubbed the “Charleston Cheers.” Slide onto a stool at the cozy bar inside Muse Restaurant and Wine Bar,...

CAN’T GO ON? YES, YOU CAN.

Rapid breathing and a racing pulse. Trembling hands and sweaty palms. Quaking knees and a halting voice. Butterflies bordering on nausea. Did Laurence Olivier ever have to deal with this?...

CURRENTS

What's new, what's happening, and what's now including Charleston's new luxury boutique hotel, upcoming events and the latest interior design trend that's perfect for those that are scared of commitment....

ART AND GARDENING

Anyone who’s attempted to coax a plot of barren soil into a verdant landscape has struggled with garden design. The overall scheme crumbles, or the end result is not what...

A SPIRITED CALLING

She’s a woman. A mother of nine children and a grandmother of five. And, she doesn’t drink alcohol. Yet, Paula Dezzutti is shaking up the male-dominated spirits industry. Born in...

THE WAITING PLACE

My epiphany came at 4:30 a.m. in a Los Angeles hotel room. I jolted awake, ears ringing, to see my 12-year-old daughter passed out cold in the next bed. We...

THREE THINGS

I took off my belt, rummaged for my keys and waited to pass through security at the courthouse. This was my first time serving jury duty, and I didn’t know...

CURRENTS

Here’s a fast rundown of this year’s highlights: The Festival’s new production of Salome, Richard Strauss’ 1905 opera, based on Oscar Wilde’s play of the same name, opens the season....

JEWELRY FIT FOR CLEOPATRA

Odds are, if you’ve spent any time in the Holy City, you’ve strolled through the Charleston City Market. It’s one of our nation’s oldest public markets and home to more...

CARRYING ON THE GULLAH TRADITION

Spirited and diverse, the South Carolina Sea Islands’ musical masala of West African rhythms, gospel, children’s rhymes and dance tunes come together with a contemporary spin in the band Ranky...

GARDENING TIPS FROM A PRO

British horticulturist and garden designer Gertrude Jekyll once suggested that any garden can be tamed into an “impression of beauty and delight.” If she had visited Charleston, she would have...

THE NEW ACTIVE LIVING

Retirement living isn’t what it used to be. In the past, the idea of a “retirement community” might include a golf course, maybe a swimming pool, and a few amenities...

OF THE SEGREGATED SOUTH

Novelist Anna Jean (A.J.) Mayhew, originally from Charlotte, North Carolina, now lives in Hillsborough, North Carolina, with her Swiss-born husband. Her writing reflects her vivid memories of growing up in...

THE MAESTRO

Hermina (Hermine) Barbot managed something few other Charleston women of her day could even imagine: She was famous in a good way. In an age when “ladies” were warned that...

THE KINGS OF QUEEN STREET

Of all the arts, theater is the most democratic. Advanced education is not a prerequisite, nor even literacy. And, as a rule, emotion carries more weight that intellect. Not to...

CURRENTS

What’s New, What’s Happening, What’s Now...

GARDENING UNDER GLASS

While I’ve always found terrariums enchanting, I used to associate them with folksy macrame crafts. Both were frequently displayed together in artist co-ops during the 1970s. Somewhere along the line...

THE FRENCH TOUCH

Women in France, it is said, invest in facials and other beauty treatments more often than women in the United States. They believe that taking care of their skin is...

MIRACLE WORKER

Steel Magnolias rejoice! Master medi-clinical aesthetician Stephanie McChesney will be opening a new location in Charleston this spring and sharing her beauty secrets with Lowcountry clients. A leader in the...

WIND TRAVELER

The wandering albatross, a loner that flies in the winds above the world’s oceans, has always captured my imagination....

A MODERN EDUCATION

You might spot them on a warm winter day as you stroll down King Street—young women in purple-and-white plaid skirts and white polos. They are high school students conducting research,...

THE LANGUAGE OF TEXTILES

As the name adopted for an international movement founded by Susan Hull Walker, ibu could not be more appropriate, for it also suggests the value that should be placed on...

EASY CHARM

Fashion can come from anywhere. Award-winning designer Billy Reid is proof of that....

CHARLESTON’S LITTLE WOMEN

Six stair-step sisters, born two years apart—Alice, Fay, Beatrice, Carlotta, Belle and Laura Witte—were the envy of Charleston. They lived in the antebellum mansion that is now the centerpiece of...

WINES TO TRANSPORT YOU

Groucho Marx once said: “I shall drink no wine before its time. OK, it’s time!” If the old comedian were alive and kicking around the Holy City today, he’d find...

MY CUP OF TEA

When autumn comes, the advice of writer Robert Brault rings true: “Enjoy the little things, for one day you may look back and realize they were the big things.” Maybe...

REALTOR WITH A HEART

Camilla Rosenberg isn’t your average realtor. If anything, she’s more of a Jill of all trades....

WHIMSY, NOSTALGIA AND SYMBOLISM

Were he in Paris, David Boatwright would be thought a bon vivant, a boulevardier known for his ready smile, his menagerie of hats and a breezy manner....

BREAKING THE MOLD

Most nice Charleston girls were not dissecting corpses and drawing from nude models in 1892. They were busy preparing to lead lives filled with babies and needlework. Sabina Elliott Wells...

SIFTING THROUGH PROSE

When I first moved to Charleston more than 30 years ago, I didn’t know the difference between a camellia and a fig tree. To remedy my profound horticultural ignorance, I...

A PERSONAL TOUCH

When Lois Daughtridge was one of a handful of employees working at The Boutique—a home furnishings, accessories, gift and bridal registry store that has been in downtown Charleston for 60...

INDIE GRANTS HELPS FILMMAKERS

It may not sound like much in an era of $200 million mainstream movie budgets, but the generous five-figure production funding awarded to independent filmmakers by the Indie Grants program...

CURRENTS

What’s New, What’s Happening, What’s Now...

FROM OLD COUNTRY TO LOWCOUNTRY

Johns Island, South Carolina, is known for narrow roads that wind beneath canopies of moss-draped oaks through miles of farmland and forest—not so much for a buzzing restaurant scene such...

CURRENTS

What’s New, What’s Happening, What’s Now...

HONORING THE PAST

No one ever truly owns an old garden. Caring for one that’s been in existence for centuries— even when no apparent notoriety or historical significance is attached to the property—...

THE FAN MASTER

A visitor from the North recounted, in an anonymous letter in The Hartford Times, how he came across Tobias Scott’s shop on Water Street, near the Battery, in February 1886....

PRESERVING AFRICAN-AMERICAN HISTORY

Some find their passion in life early on, but few can claim to have discovered it at so tender an age as Christina Butler....

A SPECIAL BOTTLE OF BUBBLY

An old bottle of champagne is tucked behind the leftovers in my refrigerator. Over the past 25 years, that green bottle of bubbly with a tattered label and questionable taste...

TEATIME IN CHARLESTON

When the owner-chefs of Twenty Six Divine Tearoom expanded the lunch menu at their cozy, off-the-beaten-path restaurant on Charleston’s upper King Street to offer afternoon tea, they didn’t expect it...

LOOKING YOUR BEST

Summers in the Lowcountry are healing for the soul, but if you are soaking up the sun at the beach or walking the hot streets of the city, you are...

A BETTER WAY

Dr. Heidi Williams offers patients the latest techniques and technology in liposuction, other elective surgeries and noninvasive procedures. Williams, a board-certified plastic surgeon with decades of expertise in head-to-toe plastic...

BEAUTY IN THE BREEZE

Air plants (Tillandsia spp.) are much more fun than run-of-themill houseplants. After all, when was the last time you grinned ear to ear or giggled at the sight of an...

AN EXTENDED MUSICAL FAMILY

These days, everyone from a football coach to your stockbroker insists their operation is a “family” affair. But for some, like Mary and Dr. Robert Taylor, the claim is not...

IT’S ALL RIGHT HERE

The number of people living in the Lowcountry has increased dramatically over the past decade and many new housing communities have emerged. Though it’s hard to find much variety in...

CURRENTS

The 42nd annual Spoleto Festival USA is almost here. For 17 days and nights—May 25 to June 10, 2018—artists from around the world will fill Charleston’s theaters, churches and outdoor spaces....

DEDICATED TO HER CLIENTS

“I always put my clients’ needs first,” says Laura McLain, a Charleston-based agent newly affiliated with Carolina One Real Estate. A member of the National Association of Realtors, she offers...

GO-TO GLOBAL

Kelly and Geoff Sigg are new to Charleston, and their boutique, Porter Conrad Jewelry, has been open just a little over a year—but you’d never guess it....

FINDING YOUR INNER JOY

Dance is a language of physicality, movement, expression. And its eloquence is seldom rivaled....

THE ALLEY

Are you familiar with photographic double exposures—composites created when two images are superimposed? Double exposures haunt me every time I bicycle down a narrow alley that leads to what was...

PURE AND NATURAL

The first time I tried RMS Beauty products (“living luminizer,” “lip2cheek” and “smile,” to be specific), a coworker immediately noticed a difference: She said I looked fresh that morning, yet...

A NATURAL HIGH

Package up fun and adventure, put it on one of the coolest islands on the East Coast, and you have Sealand Adventure Sports in downtown Sullivan’s Island....

ARTISTRY, MASTERY AND INVENTION

It is no coincidence that the resurgence of the Charleston Symphony Orchestra (CSO) over the past six years has paralleled the growth of one of its most respected members....

A SLICE IN TIME

How often do you get the chance to hold a piece of history in your hands? Museums have strict rules about picking up and touching anything other than their gift...

NEIGHBORHOOD DARLING

In February of last year, the renovated storefront at 513 King St. that once housed Union Provisions became The Darling Oyster Bar. The transformation came with the kerfuffle of the...

RELAXATION REIMAGINED

When real estate developer and preservationist John Dewberry decided to transform the beleaguered L. Mendel Rivers Federal Building into a destination hotel, located in the heart of the nation’s number...

CURRENTS

In the heart of historic Charleston, the Belmond Charleston Place is known for its ultra-luxurious accommodations and distinctive Southern-yet-cosmopolitan style. Personally, we find it hard to resist a sunset cocktail...

HISTORY BENEATH THE TARMAC

Charleston International Airport has a French connection, except it has nothing to do with aviation. The next time you’re rolling luggage through the breezeway between surface and deck parking, stop...

PEARLS: NOW AND FOREVER

When I was born, my grandmother had one perfect, dainty pearl knotted and placed on a golden chain necklace. By the time I’d receive the gift on my 16th birthday,...

ARIA OF AMBITION

One suspects Mary Gould agreed to present the play Emilie earlier this year because its heroine, a Renaissance woman of substance and wit, mirrored her own versatility and commitment....

A GRAIN OF SAND

On a Sunday morning before church, my young daughter appeared in the doorway of my bedroom. She wore cream tights and a dress full of frills and satin and folds...

SEEING IS BELIEVING

Waring Vision Institute is a leading center for patients who care about optimizing their ability to see....

UPSCALE RETIREMENT LIVING

Adjacent to the Daniel Island Club and nestled among sweeping oak trees overlooking Beresford Creek, is Wellmore of Daniel Island, the first luxury retirement community in Daniel Island....

CURRENTS

What’s New, What’s Happening, What’s Now...

A LEGACY IN THE MAKING

America had its fabled Algonquin Round Table of literary leading lights, England its renowned Bloomsbury Group. Now Charleston seeks a new legacy of its own....

HIGH-SPIRITED

Gorgeous new digs are turning heads at one of Charleston’s latest entrants to the downtown restaurant scene, and the menu is getting its share of attention, too....

CLASSIC TIMEPIECES

Mount Everest. The Oval Office. The Moon. Precision timepieces have been to many of the great places in this world and beyond, and luckily for Charleston, they can also be...

IN SEARCH OF AUTUMN COLOR

Newcomers to Charleston frequently lament that, in spite of its beauty, the Lowcountry lacks spectacular fall color. The thing is, heart-stopping Technicolor does exist here, but our autumn shades consist...

TRIED AND TRUE

“My parents put their heart and soul into Gold Creations,” Elizabeth Wolfe Hudson says. “Their attention to detail and care was instilled in all of us from a young age....

FROM CITY TO COUNTRY

Walk into any random building on King Street and you’re bound to find an upscale store that people from all over the country visit for clothing and accessories. But you’ll...

YOUR WARDROBE, PERFECTED

How often do you feel inspired when you’re getting dressed? Unless it’s for a special occasion, the answer is probably rarely....

IT’S HOME COURT FOR THURMOND

For Paul R. Thurmond it is not a matter of having new worlds to conquer....

WHAT MY GARDEN WANTS TO BE

I started my garden 25 years ago, and I’m still learning what manner of thing it is. I should have known this would be the case. A painter, I understand...

SOLE MATES

True style is enduring. That is a rule Janyce McMenamin of RTW Charleston knows well....

FAMILY JEWELS

Open for more than 100 years in the same spot on King Street, Croghan’s Jewel Box is a true Charleston success story, a family business where old and new converge...

CELEBRATING “THE HALL”

So much has been written and said about the grand (bordering on grandiose) new Gaillard Center that some may overlook that day-to-day centerpiece of the local music scene: the Charleston...

CURRENTS

Exciting news! The legendary Cirque du Soleil will be performing OVO in North Charleston from August 9–13....

KEEPING IT CLASSIC

King Street has long been considered a shopping Mecca of the Southeast, and Jordan Lash wants to do everything he can to keep in that way far into the future....

FREE SPIRIT

From first glance, it’s clear that the artisanal pieces that fill the showroom of Peyton William Jewelry are an expression of Gabrielle Egan’s individuality....

BUILDING ON A LITERARY LEGACY

BEAUFORT, S.C.—In what has become a typical afternoon at the Pat Conroy Literary Center, a steady caravan of literary pilgrims and well-wishers amble through the Museum That Words Built, its...

MORE THAN A PLAYHOUSE

My father walked in the door after work one day and, out of nowhere, asked, “How would you like to have a playhouse?” This was a stunning proposition, both in...

INSPIRED BY THE LOWCOUNTRY

Nowadays, many big-name brands crowd Charleston’s King Street, so it’s refreshing to find a shop with Lowcountry roots. Recently opened Spartina 449 has them in spades....

DARK BEAUTIES

Cork. What a wonderful substance! It’s sustainable (it grows on trees) and versatile. Impermeable, buoyant, elastic, and with fire retardant properties, cork can be used to make all manner of...

HIGH SPIRITS

Fashion Editor: Anna Stahl Senise. Fashion Stylist: Alexandra Munzel from Alexandra Styles. Makeup Artist and Hair Stylist: Emily Allyson. Model: Olivia Pires from Directions USA, Model & Artist Management....

A PERSONAL TOUCH

Pam Harrington, owner of Pam Harrington Exclusives, a luxury real estate business on Kiawah and Seabrook islands, is a woman who knows the value of hard work....

THE ART OF CRAFTS

“It is such a tactile medium,” says Lady’s Island artist Kathy Oda, whose kaleidoscopic, jewel-toned creations celebrate the seductiveness of glass. “You look at it and you want to feel...

ELEVATE YOUR WARDROBE

A Berlins girl is many things. “The girl who shops here can be 20 or 75,” says Kristin Williams, the buyer for Berlins for Women. “She is looking to elevate...

AUTHENTIC LOWCOUNTRY LIVING

Searching for a place to call home is about your lifestyle and extends far past your property lines. With more than two decades of experience in the Southeast, Kolter Homes...

SECRETS OF SOUTHERN STRAWBERRIES

When I was four, my father tried to grow strawberries in our backyard. It was not a success....

LITTLE JEWEL BOX

Whether you’re hunting down a hot spot for dinner or a space to say, “I do,” consider a visit to the Old Village Post House Inn....

CURRENTS

What’s New, What’s Happening, What’s Now...

THE ITALIAN CONNECTION

Recently, an Italian sommelier brought me a good glass of Brunello di Montalcino wine. With a mischievous grin, he also produced a dainty silver bowl of Doritos and waited while...

ACHIEVING EXCELLENCE

Charleston has once again welcomed tennis great Venus Williams to the annual Volvo Car Open on Daniel Island. In her 20 years as a professional athlete, she has won 23...

A CLEAN SLATE

When I was a teenager, my favorite part of the school day was music class. That’s when Sister Francis would float to the front of the room, her black veil...

THE BEAUTY OF A DAYDREAM

rev•er•ie: a state of being pleasantly lost in one’s thoughts; a daydream....

A LUXE HOME AWAY FROM HOME

Walking into Jeffrey Bannon’s shop in West Ashley is like visiting family....

17th Year Anniversary