Jeffrey Parker and Tony Ta are no strangers to the design game—fourteen years in the business has seen them working with some of the biggest names in fashion, from Giorgio Armani to Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, Ralph Lauren and Derek Lam. But after years of traveling backwards and forth to Italy, it became clear that the business needed a new structure to cope with the sheer volume of work. The result was a move from New York to Florence in 2003 and the creation of Studio Maggio. Surrounded by some of the world’s most skilled artisans, they are now able to offer a research, design and development consultancy to their clients while creating a home for their own label, JT bags.

Years of working for others inspired the duo to begin the process of developing their own line. As industry insiders, they had a significant head start but were nonetheless determined to take their time with a project that quickly became a labor of love. And with free reign over every design element down to the very last detail, the line is the ultimate in luxury. Lush leather is used in each piece along with a focus on high shine buckles and adornments, all of which are informed by their work in jewelry design. The decision to introduce techniques associated with clothing such as draping and pleating is what really set the collection apart from the pack, however.

Launched during fashion week in October 2007, JT took the bold decision to exhibit outside of the tradeshow circuit: A 1952 English double-decker red bus was transformed into an impossible to miss showroom and unsurprisingly brought the label a great deal of attention.

Their current spring/summer ’09 offering, Reef, is a move towards lightness and air. Soft textured, tactile leathers are used in a more natural palette of seaside tones, coral, stone grays and aquamarine. Hardware remains highly polished but subtle with shapes still very much inspired by couture cutting and silhouettes, while luxury exotic skins such as eel, crocodile and lizard are combined for a limited edition clutch of just 18 pieces. Despite economic cutbacks, exclusivity and luxury continue to reign supreme at Studio Maggio.

—Lena Dystant