Hold Series 04 “Poi of Goldfish Scooping”

This is the fourth pendant in my Hold series.
The theme of this series is embrace.

A pearl is nurtured by an Akoya oyster. The oyster is nurtured by the sea. The sea is nourished by rainwater flowing from the mountains, and the leaves are the first to receive the rain. This pendant is inspired by this eternal and mysterious cycle of nature, using a pearl and a leaf as motifs.

To me, this cycle is not only a natural law but also a symbol of mutual care and love. When I expand this interpretation, I begin to see the relationship between the pearl and the leaf as that of a mother and child.

A pearl unknowingly receives love from the ocean, the mountains, and the leaves. In the same way, we too, though we may no longer remember it, were once cradled in our mother’s arms and showered with love in our early childhood.

Life can be hard. For some, the hardships increase with age. That’s why the theme of embrace is so important. Without it, our hearts may dry up. An embrace is like nourishing rain for the soul.

A life filled only with ease might resemble a pearl with a thin nacre and shallow luster. It’s often through enduring hardship that a thick, luminous nacre is formed—just like a beautiful pearl. The more we experience sorrow, the deeper and richer our joy can become.

Perhaps many of us are quietly yearning for an embrace. I certainly am. But we must not only seek it—we must also offer it to others as an act of kindness.

While crafting this pendant through metalwork, I poured all these thoughts into it. I’m still a beginner at metalworking, and things don’t always go as I imagine. But precisely because of that, the joy I feel when a piece is finally completed is immense.

The silver part of this pendant is rhodium-plated. Rhodium plating enhances its resistance to scratches and tarnishing, while giving it a bright, refined luster. It’s a finish that helps preserve the beauty of the piece over time with minimal maintenance.

This pendant also carries a playful name: “Poi of Goldfish Scooping.”
Although the Hold Series is based on the theme of embrace, when I saw this piece completed, it reminded me of the fragile paper net (poi) used in a Japanese summer festival game of goldfish scooping. In this image, the silver finding becomes the poi, while the pearl shines like the goldfish.

At summer festivals, children try to catch small goldfish with these delicate paper scoops. It is never easy, and parents often ask, “Can you really take care of the goldfish?” I too once tried goldfish scooping as a child. The goldfish I brought home only lived for about two weeks. We had no aquarium—just a bucket—and although I changed the water every day, my whole family felt sorry for them. Since then, we never did goldfish scooping again.

Yet, many friends managed to raise their festival goldfish for years with proper aquariums. These memories remind me that summer festivals hold countless emotions—joy, nostalgia, and sometimes regret.

Even now, as an adult who rarely visits festivals, the word “summer festival” still brings back a warm sense of nostalgia.

This pendant, while born from the theme of embrace, carries within it both the tenderness of nature and the fleeting memories of childhood summers.