Saturday May 30, 2009
The accidental jeweller
By KIKI CHOO
Making jewellery was a hidden talent Maureen Soon discovered rather late in life.
Designing jewellery was nowhere on the radar for 50-something Maureen Soon during her high-flying days as a flight attendant.
Even after the Sarawakian called it quits in 2000, jewellery did not figure in her plans. She expanded on her hospitality background with a restaurant specialising in desserts and wedding cakes.
Turquoise with silver cyclinders “That was the limit of my creativity then,” she says.
It was a “Eureka!” moment when her inner jeweller suddenly popped out one day while she was shopping with an artist friend, Izan.
“I made a decision on the spot,” she explains briskly. “I wanted to change the concept of how jewellery is worn, how it can be matched with baju kurung.”
Soon had no idea how she was going to change the world of bling, nor if anyone would appreciate her style.
Like women fashion designers who set up businesses because they can’t find clothes to suit their taste, Soon’s move was prompted by her dissatisfaction with the existing jewellery designs in the stores that day.
“Izan encouraged me to do it,” she says.
Thinking on her feet and getting things done quickly are traits that carried from her mile-high days.
She channelled her resolve into action, hooking up with a lecturer in his private studio in Shah Alam.
“The course was supposed to last two years, but I didn’t have the patience, I wanted to finish it in two months!”
Today, technical terms such as doming, inlaying, rolling, soldering, making wires and tubes, roll from her tongue like second nature, although she ventured into the field only 30 months ago.
The designer — Maureen Soon. Soon’s style is best described as organic, with the design evolving with the hand-made process.
“The designs are all in my head,” says the late bloomer. “I concentrate on the metalwork and one thing just leads to another.”
Her first collection, which goes on viewing at Jendela from May 23, is called Rock & Roll because of the encounter between semi-precious stones and the rolling method of 925 silver.
The sculptural pieces of rings, earrings, bracelets and necklaces, priced from RM300, took just two months to complete, in a burst of inspiration and deadline urgency.
Working solo in a portion of the studio she shares with Izan, Soon crafted 41 Art Deco-styled designs for her début exhibition.
She takes pride in her dramatic and refined creations as objets d’art, which are meant to be worn as well as admired in their own right.
“It’s my passion, not a business,” Soon points out. “I don’t want to be on the industrial line. Like an artist, you want to produce the best, not 20 lousy pieces (to sell.)”
The joy of creation is Soon’s incentive to keep moulding and polishing away with metals such as platinum, gold and copper, enhancing them with stones like crystal, turquoise and coral.
“It’s going to be continuous,” she pledges. The passion and skills are something Soon hopes to share and pass on to aspiring young jewellers.
“So many graduates, but without the right channel or resources, do not realise their potential,” she says. “They end up working without using their creativity.”
There are gems to be discovered. Soon, the accidental jeweller should know. She hopes to pick and train them, with the same aplomb she has shown in refining her own hidden talent.
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