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
