LOCAL

Poison patrol

After the death of Mia Fong’s dog Gamma, she decided to take matters into her own hands. Nicole Slater reports.

Over the past few months, a large number of dog poisoning cases have occurred around Cyberport Waterfront Park. A total of 15 dogs so far have been poisoned with eight of them sadly passing away. One of those unfortunate cases was a golden retriever named Gamma.

The much-loved family dog consumed spam laced with poison at the park in early February. “We were so busy going through the motions of paying the hospital bill, filing a police report that there wasn’t much time to process what happened the day she died,” said Gamma’s owner, Mia Fong.

It wasn’t until two weeks later that Fong decided to do something about it. “I wrote a post on my social media about Gamma’s murder. I wanted it to serve as a warning to those walking their dogs in the area. We never thought it would happen to us but it did.”

With a mission to prevent any more dogs from being harmed, Fong set up a neighbourhood watch Facebook and Instagram group @Gamma.hkg, to help patrol Hong Kong’s parks, neighbourhoods and hiking trails. Fong encourages dog lovers to report and remove poisoned bait from those areas.

“What we need are more people on the ground, actively looking for potentially poisoned bait. I am not asking for more followers on social media, but am using it as a tool to help the pet community,” says Fong.

“Usually when people find poisoned bait they take a photo and send it to a dog rescue group, who circulate it via social media. I want to collect this information and create a Google Map layer showing the exact locations where poisoned bait has been found. I’m currently asking people to come forward with information on where their pets may have been poisoned or where found poisoned bait.”

Since starting the community organisation, Gamma.hkg has now gathered a following of over 450 people and Hong Kong’s dog community has come together to help. “Even before I set up Gamma.hkg, friends sent touching messages to us. Gamma had a lot of friends in our neighbourhood who sent us flowers, baked goods, hand-written notes and one amazing poem. We felt so uplifted by their kindness.”

While everyone grieves differently, Fong decided to channel her anger into a good cause. “I think anyone who has had a pet maliciously and senselessly killed like this would be angry. I am angry, but I’m channeling my energy into being productive,” she says. “I won’t get Gamma back but doing this work gives others a chance to have a longer time with their pets.”

The community group has began hosting its group walks to patrol four main areas around Hong Kong that have had cases of poisonings. “If people can take part in this cause or simply talk to their friends and fellow dog lovers about it, I think we have a chance at claiming back our dog parks and trails.”

Characterised by its intricate Chinese-style latticework, Dickson Yewn’s eponymous jewellery brand YEWN has an established presence in Hong Kong. With a boutique in Landmark Atrium, the brand has featured in international art fairs and private sales across the world. Just four years after its founding, YEWN shot to international stardom in 2011, as the first contemporary Chinese luxury jewellery brand worn by America’s First Lady, Michelle Obama. Today, it is the go-to brand for one-of-a-kind or limited edition pieces that draw inspiration from Chinese arts and culture.

It hasn’t always been like this, of course. In fact, YEWN came from humble beginnings, born out of its founder’s experimentation with different genres of the arts. Yewn started as a filmmaker, indulged in fine art and even dabbled in advertising before he found his forte in jewellery making.

“In the beginning, I did everything myself, from concept to design to actually making the pieces of jewellery,” says Yewn of his foray into the jewellery industry. “As the brand grew, we became a team to realise my creative direction. But for many art jewellery pieces, I still draw and make at least a great part of it myself.”

Conceptually, Yewn wanted to revisit Chinese fine jewellery, which dates back to over 3,000 years ago. However, in the modern world, he found that the art form was fast disappearing, with Chinese shoppers looking at foreign brands instead. “I wanted to bring Chinese culture back into the contemporary design and art world,” he says.

Currently, YEWN is the only remaining independent jewellery brand in Hong Kong. After the social unrest in 2019 and the pandemic in 2020, similar names such as Carnet had pulled from the retail scene and Qeelin had been purchased by Kering, a French luxury conglomerate. Rather than go down the same path, Yewn is adamant about keeping his brand as is, to focus on creating specialised pieces that celebrate China’s roots.

“Creating a piece of jewellery is not difficult at all, what’s difficult is for it to become timeless, iconic and culture-specific,” he says. “What’s even more difficult is to recreate a demand for contemporary Chinese fine jewellery, as women in the world no longer associate fine jewellery with Chinese culture – at least not until YEWN came into the picture 20 years ago.”

Working with motifs like butterflies, latticework, peonies and Chinese fans, YEWN reinterprets the material and non-material culture of China with fine jewellery making techniques. Its pieces not only stand out in Hong Kong, but also around the world, as it works with elements that other brands and designers tend to stay away from – wood, squares and Chinese influences.

And what about wood and squares? Yewn is more than happy to indulge. “Besides the typical precious gems and metals that most jewellers use, I like to use more than 30 species of wood in my works. Having been a wood collector for 20 years, I have much experience with the material.”

Continuing on, Yewn shares that his favourite pieces from YEWN’s collection are in fact the ones shaped like squares. “I like them because they are different. I simply don’t understand why women from 3,000 years ago until the 21st century only gravitated to round jewellery. Fingers and wrists can fit much more than just round rings and bangles.”

It seems that Yewn isn’t the only one who appreciates these elements in his jewellery – Michelle Obama appears to share his sentiments. 10 years ago, Obama was seen wearing YEWN’s iconic Chinese Lattice Jadeite Ring at the wedding of Prince William and Catherine Middleton. The ring went on to catch the eyes of many of the guests at the lavish event, which included UK Prime Minister David Cameron, English football star David Beckham, Oscar winner Colin Firth, Hollywood actor Tom Hanks and author

of the Harry Potter series J. K. Rowling. It was a memorable moment, to say the least.

Looking forward, Yewn has his eyes set on China. Since diving into the jewellery industry in 1995, he has noticed two major changes: the rise of China and the rise of e-commerce. Whilst many platforms for independent jewellery designers in the US and Europe are fast disappearing and dying out, the truth could not be more different for jewellers in the East.

“What’s new in 2021 and the years to come would be my intention of looking for a partner or investor for entering the Chinese market, and at the same time finding enough funding to help nurture the next generation of independent

Chinese designers and artists,” says Yewn. “I think that China is finally ready to come back to her origin after four decades of opening up to the world. I can feel that a new generation of wealthy, educated Chinese would be more prone to buy and to appreciate art and luxury that are close to their culture.”

YEWN

Look out for YEWN at Art Central from May 20-23 in Literati Artspace booth 25. yewn.com/boutique.html