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South African-born Jessica Deutsch founded Arts to Life, a bespoke travel company focused on cultural journeys, in 1997 after working as a director of programming at Sotheby’s for ten years. Her trips, designed for small groups or individuals, focus on a specific destination’s history as well as its decorative, performing and visual arts. Often, they are grouped around a specific theme, like 18th-century Paris, period jewelry in London or Italian fashion. “I see my programs as films,” says Deutsch, who also curates a gallery in a Georgian townhouse in Blomsbury. “They are dramas in which the arts speak to each other—architecture, painting, decorative arts, cuisine, dance and music—and the participants of each journey are the actors experiencing this dynamic interchange.”

Thanks to a well-connected network of curators, collectors, scholars and artisans, Deutsch can get behind-the-scenes access for her clients to some of the world’s most fascinating private institutions, homes and collections. For example, a fashion-focused trip to Italy included cocktails at the house of Etro and a private evening at Armani; a journey exploring Versailles’ influence on modern-day Paris had the group visiting off-limits rooms at the Petit Trianon and dining with the director of Versailles an itinerary on period jewelry in London included smaller villages outside of the city where glittering treasures can still be found. Deutsch has also tailored tours for travelers looking for a guide to such major art fairs as Tefaf in Maastricht, or for people with interests in a specific movement, like Palladian architecture in Britain.

Upcoming trips—which sell out fast as groups are no larger than sixteen people—include one to Japan (Kyoto and Tokyo) in October 2008 and another to India, with a focus on gemstones and fabrics, in the spring of 2009.

To read about a special fashion trip to Italy and one focused on 18th-century Paris, click here.