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

 

 

From candles to CUFFLINKS…

Text: Rowsie

As I set foot into GLUE, three what seemed to be goldfish floating in mid-air first caught my eye. Little did I know that these were actually hand-crafted candles, made with a hand painted goldfish surrounded by clear wax, creating the illusion that the fish were ‘swimming’ in clear water.

‘The fish are first moulded with a cast, then hand painted by the artist,” the owner explained.

She went on to show me products that they designed themselves, including this interesting touch of blue – CLOUDY-  for your everyday lavatory.

As I turned my back, I was met with a dazzle of gold and silver, which turned out to be their 2gether jewellery collection.

These accessories are produced by state-of-the-art 3D printing technology and then coated with gold or S-CO.

Outside the shop, four counters are set up showcasing cufflinks of all shapes and sizes.

These are only a few of what they have installed. Whether if it’s a miniature Heineken bottle, or if you’re looking for something on the darker side of the force like Darth Vader; you name it, they’ll have it.

And if you have a more oriental taste, how about a Mao shaped candle? Or Chinese work wear perhaps?

These are the products with Chinese elements that GLUE specifically chose to sell.

The product design store sells all kinds of accessories, candles and home products with their intriguing designs aiming to inspire you with their immense detail.

While you may find all of their signature design products at the front of the shop, including dim sum candles BeCandle, handmade silk screen tote bags Motive and many more; if you’re lucky, you may even catch a glimpse of the team of designers working on new designs and products by the minute in their workshop in the back.

Shop name: Glue Associates

Websites:

www.glueassociates.hk

http://www.pmq.org.hk/shop/glue-associates/

Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/glueassociate/?fref=ts

Address:
S402, 4/F, Staunton (Block A), PMQ

35 Aberdeen Street, Central, Hong Kong

Opened daily: 12:00nn to 20:00

Tel: 9536 0030

Hong Kong on StepsArtist: Omni Art

Omni Art is the first Hong Kong art group specialising in 3D floor paintings, wall paintings and other creative art projects. Led by local artist Lam Yuk Fai, four young artists including Terena Wong, Cheng Kit Yu, Kum Ka Wai and Denise Yeung left their brushstrokes in various places around Hong Kong with a dream of making art everywhere and sharing their art ideas with everyone in the world. Upon their first encounter in a community art project in 2014, they started four 3D floor paintings in Tsuen Wan, and formed Omni Art. To date, they have created seven stair paintings across three districts in Hong Kong.

旅塗是香港首個專業3D地畫、壁畫及從事其他創意藝術的團隊，並由本地資深藝術家林旭輝老師帶領四位年輕藝術家王麗童、鄭潔瑜、甘家瑋和楊梓晴組成。他們的藝術創作足跡遍及全香港，務求把他們的藝術創作和理念與世界上所有人分享。2014年，他們通過荃灣3D地畫社群藝術計劃而互相認識。時至今日，他們已經在香港三個不同的地區創作了七幅巨型梯畫。

“Lost in Time PMQ" is a combination of stair paintings, floor paintings and installation. The concept is built on the historical background of PMQ and Hong Kong in the old days. The artwork is divided into four parts. A Chinese opera artiste in her costume painted on the far most stairs seems to be stepping down, while painted on the floor beneath those stairs are the streets of Hong Kong in the 1950-60s. A rickshaw on the street is waiting for the artiste, while another rickshaw carrying a passenger is leaving on the far left. The modern female painted on the stairs up front appears to be the artiste passing through the world beneath and walking back up to the modern world.  The juxtaposition of these scenes are divided by the painted iron bars on the floor: above the bars is modern-day Hong Kong and below the bars is Hong Kong in the old days. The best spot to capture this spectacle is near the stairs along Staunton Street. 

「時空交錯PMQ」是結合了樓梯畫，地畫以及裝置藝術於一身的作品。創作概念主要建基於PMQ及新舊香港的歷史背景。首先將整個作品以樓梯畫及地畫，分成上、下、前、後四個空間，後面的階梯畫有一個穿著粵劇戲服的花旦從階梯踏步而下，而地面則呈現出一條五十、六十年代的香港街道。街道上的一架黃包車等著花旦上車，左邊遠處另一架黃包車則載上乘客正在離開、而前面的階梯則畫有一個現代的女性，好像是那花旦從後邊的樓梯穿越了時空交錯的地下世界，再從前面的樓梯走上了現代一樣。這些交錯的時空就是透過畫在地面上的鐡欄，隱喻鐡欄之上為真實的空間，與下層的舊香港情景相互交錯。讓觀眾可於PMQ士丹頓街的階梯入口位置，感受這個交錯空間及留影成為作品的一部份。