Olopua Calabash KeychainMay 2023 Olopua, jade, sterling silver, Beadalon A friend came to me for a Mother's Day gift for his wife that would speak to her AAPI ancestry as well as to their daughter, Olive. His wife is ethnically Chinese by way of Kauai, so we wanted to include both Asian and Hawaiian cultural references in the piece. The centerpiece of this key chain is the calabash gourd bead, which I had custom turned by a local woodworker in Honolulu. As a nod to their

This dramatically skewed pendant is made up of two halves that together make up an unusual Star of David

I knew I needed to make jewelry out of it

The bride also wanted an emerald added to her ring

Given that these were a Christmas gift

October 2015

The placid-looking characters on this cartouche

black diamonds

it could only be called Kilter

The literal meaning of 濃情蜜意 (nóngqíngmìyì) is "strong love and sweet affection" (蜜 means "honey")

I'm no wood turner and I don't own a lathe

while in Judaism the pomegranate symbolizes everything from righteousness to love and fertility to the 613 Commandments found in the Torah

We chose a classic cocktail-style solitaire ring in 18k white gold for the setting