La DoubleJ Designer JJ Martin Shares Her Guide to Adventuring in Italy

From the look of her Instagram, you’d think La DoubleJ founder JJ Martin’s life was one big mambo Italiano—and you wouldn’t be wrong. To serve up her beloved bathing suits, maxi dresses, and tableware (all featuring wallpaper-sized, Gio Ponti-esque prints), the California-born designer is constantly on the move, exploring her adoptive country and translating her travels into highly covetable, made-in-Italy wares. A trip to Murano, for example, led her to the isle’s famous glass museum and resulted in gorgeous, hand blown Tippetti goblets. And sometimes on her travels, Martin packs up her latest La DoubleJ line to host pop-up shops along the way.

Over the course of the summer, La DoubleJ hosted two shops, one in Capri and one in Pietrasanta. The first was held at Capri Blu, owned by “this lovely man named Antonio,” Martin says. And to celebrate this week-long pop-up, a fabulous luncheon was hosted at the villa of Matteo and Susanne Thun, where painted tiles create a dizzying delight underfoot and the walls are painted bougainvillea-pink. The luncheon, which was set on La DoubleJ china (but of course), featured lots of buffalo di mozzarella and was attended by Luisa Beccaria and “lots of locals.” Afterwards, Martin spent the week relaxing; reading Radical Acceptance by Tara Brach, doing sunrise yoga (“It was very powerful. I'm telling you that island vibrates.”) and taking in the views enjoyed post-hike at Anacapri, the Mediterranean island’s tippity top.

Next up was her trip to Pietrasanta, a town that, Martin explains, “a lot of Italians have actually never heard of.” Just east of popular beach town destination Forte dei Marmi is a “hidden jewel in Italy and definitely a place I recommend all Americans to go visit.” Here, Martin hosted her pop-up at Zoe boutique, nestled in the Tuscan town’s center, which “gleams of marble” as it’s right near the Carrara marble quarry. (History claims that Michelangelo came to Pietrasanta in search of the world's purest marble.) While here, Martin enjoyed the local shops, and biked and beached in nearby Forte dei Marmi.