Breathing Life into Brass

Text: C.Martin

They were lying on the tables, hanging on wooden boards on the walls and tucked in comfortably in honeycomb-like shelves on the walls.

 

“I designed and crafted all these with my little fingers.” Pinky Wong gestured at the meticulously handcrafted pieces of jewellery in her studio shop, which was aptly named “The Little Finger”. Even the brownish-gold letters outside the shop – yes, those were handmade herself too.

 

Pinky carved and polished each of their curves and bends from brass. Watching her work, it seemed to me like she was breathing life into each of her pieces, giving them their own spark stroke by stroke.

 

Pinky said that she liked working with brass most of all as it was not easily oxidized like silver if worn for long periods of time. She said this seemed to diminish the quality of jewellery pieces when they gathered the grey sheen of oxidation. She felt brass gave quality and value to her pieces.

Coupled with quality metal, traces of wool often wound their way into her designs. She liked to use wool to fill in the “negative space”, or the open and empty space, in her pieces. This seemed to give a warmer and almost human touch to the raw metal.

 

While Pinky concentrated on crafting her pieces, Toby Cheung made sure the shop operated smoothly. They had been classmates in university, and Toby decided to help Pinky out when she heard about the studio shop. Catching their shared smiles reminiscent of old times, I think she enjoyed working at The Little Finger as much as Pinky.

 

I was curious about where the name for “The Little Finger” came from, though I had a bit of an idea. With a cheeky grin, Pinky relayed to me the short story of how “The Little Finger” came to be.

“Well, my name is Pinky, which is another name for the little finger on our hands. So in a way, I guess I am the little finger.

“And all the jewellery pieces here are handmade, from the little fingers of designers like me. It’s amazing what you can make with these little fingers.”

 

What was even more amazing was that she rarely sketched out the design of her jewellery on paper – she just started making them and feeling them out with her fingers.

“Of course, you do have to have a bit of an idea about how you want it to turn out. But working with metal relies a lot on the feel of it on the tips of your fingers. I don’t like being restricted by designs on paper, because when you start making the piece it has a way of telling you what works best. I prefer it that way.”

 

And each piece takes quite a long time to make. The pieces of jewellery on display are oftentimes the only piece in the shop. So when it is picked by its new owner, that spot becomes empty, and the little finger(s) start working again to fill the vacant spot.

 

I watched as Pinky sent off her piece of jewellery. Along with it, she gave the owner-to-be a small card with procedures on how to care for the jewellery, along with a little piece of sandpaper attached to it.

“The best way to keep it in good shape is just to wear it more. Please don’t throw it away if it shows small signs of wear – I put a lot of effort into making this piece. Please take good care of it!”

 

 

 

The Little Finger

H206, 2/F, Hollywood, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong

Opening Hour: 12:00nn – 8:00pm Daily

Website:  http://www.thelittlefinger.com/

                http://www.pmq.org.hk/shop/the-little-finger/?lang=ch

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheLittleFingerbyPinkyWong

 

 

The Modern-Day Apothecary and His Apprentice

Text: C.Martin

“Oh, I made these myself with some baking soda and some volcanic ash, among other ingredients.” He waved his hand at the wooden shelf holding white tubes of basic toothpaste. 

The owner of Home ∙ Works gently nudged his “apprentice”, his friend’s niece, to bring me the tube of toothpaste with “Taste Me” on it. I was slightly hesitant at first, but I decided to give it a try. As I smeared some of the matte grey toothpaste onto my finger and put some of it onto my tongue, I was surprised to taste the tang of tangerines on my taste buds. The tingling icy sensation that was left on my tongue felt very interesting, especially as it was summer and anything cooling felt nice. 

Edmund Ip founded Home ∙ Works with the hope of creating a lifestyle shop that promoted a balanced lifestyle between work and living. On the walls across from the wooden shelves hung designer clocks, and quotes asserting a balanced lifestyle were sprawled on the walls. 

The light-hearted quotes (such as “Ideas have a short shelf life. You must act on them before the expiration date” and “Happiness often sneaks in through a door you didn’t know you left open”) added to the interesting vibe I felt when walking into the store, almost as if entering an enchanted exhibition room in Harry Potter style.

As I turned to the bottles of body and hair wash on the next shelf, he remarked that those were favorites of the workers at PMQ, as they could take them immediately to the showers. The bamboo scrubs in the glass jar seemed to be a pretty nice match for the body wash, but I think those would have been too comfortable to use at PMQ. 

Surprisingly, both Edmund and his “apprentice” were quite familiar with organic chemistry, which formed the basis for many of his organic concoctions. We had a comical discussion about the chemical structure of the soap in his store. His “apprentice” had just finished her DSE exams, so the formulas and facts were still fresh in her mind, but Edmund had already seemed to have consolidated this knowledge.

 “A bit of organic knowledge comes in handy when creating these products. My deodorant, for example, is made of ingredients like baking soda which kills germs, eliminating the cause of the odor”, said Edmund. “Other natural ingredients, like witch hazel extract, reduce the size of the pores in your skin rather than closing them as opposed to commercial deodorant.” 

I was intrigued by the deodorant, especially its “witch hazel” component, so I decided to give the deodorant a try by sniffing at it a bit. There was a lemony citrus taste to it which I found quite natural and refreshing. 

Entering into Home ∙ Works almost seemed like opening the doors of a wardrobe and ending up in a far-off place in a different time. It almost seemed like there was some subtle magic at work here. Perhaps Home ∙ Works belonged to a different time. 

Shop Name: Home ∙ Works

Websites: http://www.home-works.org/

                 http://www.pmq.org.hk/shop/home-works/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/home.works.hk

Shop Location: Unit 506, 5/f, Staunton, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong 

Opening Hours: 1:00pm – 8:00pm