Sounds dreamy and romantic? See Jonathan’s designs and you could be transported to underwater realms and fairy tale places where butterflies reign. Meet him and you will be amazes at his quiet, soft spoken demeanor.Charming Jonathan Yun met me at his no-name studio in Armenian Street. Why has it no name? It’s a question all of us are asking as this young person has certainly made him self a name with his individually crafted, both filigree and bold, semi precious stone studded, and contemporary silver jewelry.
As he was on his way to Kuala Lumpur to deliver some of his stuff, he quickly ushers me in and promptly proceeds to finish off his newly made pieces in the back of the studio, deftly dumping them into containers with weird chemicals and starting up a machine that I can only describe looking like a home made torture instrument.As this proceeds to shake the chemicals with the jewelry, he wipes his hands and, at last I get to start a proper interview. It doesn’t help that the answer to my first question “How old are you”, receives the answer, “I rather not tell you my age-lah”. This soft spoken, unassuming guy prefers to give as little personal history as possible, and endeavors to be as private as possible in a very modest kind of manner.
A great enthusiast of the sciences, he finished Form six as a science student, only giving up on the science education when he could not manage the additional mathematics. “I am glad I did the sciences as I use the principles found in the sciences when problem solving with my art form.”
It seems that he liked having challenges and only when the sciences were out of his comfort zone, did he pursue his other interest in the arts.“I have always been artistic and took Art as an extra subject in SPM with no classes.” How did he score? “Passed with an A1”.
Jonathan’s parents then encouraged him to attend college in the Arts in Singapore. “ They believed that this was where my best capabilities lay”, he stated. He stumbled on Jewelry Design in his second year and has not looked back since. He took a course in Gold and Silver smiting.
So why coral designs? “I am an avid diver and have spent time in the seas around Malaysia, Singapore and the Maldives. The sight and forms of coral amazes me and, as I am intrinsically a lover of nature, it only seemed right to design jewelry inspired by these beautiful living things” “Coral seems to be a part of me.”His range of jewelry inspired by nature does not just reflect coral but also butterflies. He had previously worked at the Butterfly Farm and collaborated to develop a method of encasing delicate butterfly wings in resin. Jonathan took this one step further and designed bold silver forms to hold them, making attractive and unusual pendants and brooches to die for!
The joy and sophistication of the art that this,easy-to-talk to person does, speaks for him in volumes.
Jonathan is always at our market. Come by and meet him for yourself.
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Grandma’s Century Egg Basket - Ronnie Ng Lam Hock
Ronnie Ng, 44, is a Project Executive with a difference. His strong cultural roots and memories of his grandmother’s kitchen have inspired him to start a hobby which is slowly beginning to bring him the relief from stress which he sorely craves.“I’m from Klang. Mahathir said to look east and I came here to work in the commercial Air conditioning Business. I married here and here I now stay!” says this amazing craft person.
So, does Grandma’s kitchen equate to good cooking skills? No way, Ronnie remembers his grandma hanging the eggs in this cool chicken wire container high above so that the rats could not get at them. He then proceeded to improvise and improve on the century egg basket using galvanized iron wires gauged 10 and 20. This new basket is an easy wash, hang and dry storage system, reminiscent of our past and therefore all the more desirable.
Ronnie has a Diploma in Mechanical Engineering which he has put to great use. He then took the basic design of the basket and used it to make other storage baskets in all shapes and sizes. Not satisfied with this, he dug back into his past and remembered the many trishaw rides he used to take back in 1989 when he first came here. “I used to ride the trishaw as I was fascinated by them. It became a favorite past time when I was single,” he said.Of course this translated into simple but beautiful sculptures of the Trishaw in galvanized iron wire.
This handyman who does his own home renovations and reads magazines on week end projects has 3 small children. One of his first hobby projects was to do a Rolls Royce Silver Ghost in miniature. “I couldn’t buy it so I decided to make it’, is his smiling statement. “I used my weekends to fabricate and the night time to work on my projects.”His models, baskets, lamps and candle holders are detailed and meticulously done. “You can use chicken wire and it would be faster to make but will have no fineness. So I twist and turn good quality wire, ensuring that the end product will not scratch or hurt people or furniture.” This is painstaking work and requires much time and energy
Ronnie designs much of his own work and tries to use a lot of recycled material. “I use whatever remnants I can find from the sites where I work to come up with these items”, he explains.
Ronnie will be at the Market in June to show off his wares and teach anyone who wants to learn his trade.
