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

 

 

Back in Time in a Shop

Text: C.Martin

Let’s face it – a trip to the museum is hardly the right occasion to be searching for some cool item or gadget to bring home. Sure, museums are full of interesting objects, but imagine bringing a set of dinosaur bones home. Not very likely, right?

Walking along the 4th floor of the Hollywood Building at PMQ, I came across “Museum Context”. There was a very interesting vibe to it. For starters, it seemed more like an antique shop with a retro vibe to it than a museum. And who knows, maybe I’d find something of interest there! Enchanted by the “Hogwarts” sign beneath its window, I decided to walk in.

Entering the shop was like taking a step back in time. Around me were items, artefacts and objects of all sizes and shapes belonging to a different time. Some of them may have seemed quite common or ordinary back in their time, like the glass bottle labelled “Love Potion”, but now they held totally different value.

Besides the “love potion”, a lot of the items on display had something distinctly British about them. I was intrigued by the small book of food rationing coupons dated 1940 something. There were also a lot of items related to the colonial Hong Kong era, characterised by red sailing ships.

I later found out that the objects were all handpicked and curated by the owner and his wife, Andrew and Alice McRae. A pity they weren’t in Hong Kong at the time I visited the shop, it would have been a pleasure to meet them in person!

But of all the things on display, I was entranced by the shelf of antique books in the corner. There was something about their aging cover and yellowed pages that captivated me. Browsing through the shelf, I found copies of Shakespeare’s plays, some anthologies of myths and short fiction that had gone out of fashion and lots of other antique books.

But I was surprised to find a rather new book that seemed out of place among the rest. It was a hardcover edition of Martin Booth’s “Gweilo”, a pretty popular book. Curious as to why it was on display, I flicked to the back cover of the book to find that it was published in 2004, the year “Gweilo” was first published. Turned out that the author passed away after writing this book. This rather new book turned out to be the priceless first edition of the last book Martin Booth wrote.

I had a brief chat with the shopkeepers, Tony and Marco. Tony was friends with the owner and had agreed to look after the shop when he and his wife were gone. Marco, on the other hand, had been entranced by the shop. Laughing and with knowing glances at the other, they agreed heartily that it was a very comfortable and interesting environment to work in.

I had a great time at the Museum Context, and the pleasant vibe of the place seemed to linger with me. It wasn’t just the items or artefacts on display, but also the chemistry of the people that worked there. Maybe, one of the secrets was just to enjoy and like what you do!

Shop Name: Museum CONTEXT 
Founders: Andrew McRae & Alice McRae
Website: http://www.museumcontext.com/
               http://www.pmq.org.hk/shop/museum-context/           
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/oldtowncontext
Location: Unit 402, 4/F Hollywood, PMQ, 35 Aberdeen Street, Central Hong Kong
Opening Hours: 1:00pm – 8:00pm daily

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