thefielddrip

All In Dew Time

The Field Drip is a significant milestone in Nicole Cara's journey as a metalsmith, a cairn that marks her maturity as a creative and expert of her craft. I had the pleasure of sharing in her work at the soft launch of The Field Drip, a series of jewelry stemming from Nicole's love for nature, life, and love itself.

The launch was held at Papan Haus, an independent arts space in PJ. It is named for the eight foldable wood walls that open to terrazzo flooring, leading to a generous floor-to-ceiling glass wall that frames the gentle sway of a willow tree, and birdhouse air vents that line the wall of the staircase. In the centre of the space was a long table, laid with a soft bed of moss and decorated with fragments of wood and stone. Delicate dewdrops rested on the moss. Clear water pooled as mirrors or bubbled with jewelry, as though rising from an underground spring. A meditative description printed on seed paper accompanied each piece.

Six pieces were featured including one necklace, one pair of earrings, one pendant and three rings. The earrings feature the logomark of this endeavour: a sprout with leaves rounded by the favour of the sun, taking growth one leaf at a time. The Abundance Ring is etched with motifs from nature (a leafy flourish, the whorl of a seashell). One segment is embedded with an opal, a dewdrop at dawn. The Touch Wood Ring is a charm to dispel all your bad luck anywhere you are with a simple touch of the wood fragment, its creation a callback to a joke made between Nicole and her friends.

Nicole’s expression of appreciation for the world takes the form of The Gratitude Necklace. Three daisies hold hands on a chain, each bearing a stone that represents the sky, land and sea respectively. She also pays homage to her roots with the Lin Ngau Ring, a signet debossed with a cross-section of the lotus root, an evocation of a homely soup and the rich mud the lotus flower emerges from.

As I followed each piece, I became conscious of a larger ecology surrounding the installation. The tall wooden walls had grooves like bark, rising as trees to cast a cooling shade on the installation. Moss and rock may not have the sky-scraping might of the canopy or the irresistible draw of fanciful flowers. But it is no less important than the other parts of any ecosystem, one that encapsulates an unhurried, understated growth that is the core of The Field Drip. It is a deliberation on the small and low things that enrich and nurture.

The space was also shared by two other booths. One was in a separate room that sold gemstone jewelry that were made by hand, run by Nicole's mother, Lily, and another was located upstairs, run by Ashley from Orbing Out. Free zines lined the handrail of the skywell, and visitors were encouraged to take an acrylic keychain by Orbing Out as a doorgift. Lily had previously collaborated with Nicole to produce a series of crocheted works. When asked about whether Nicole's interest in craft was inspired by her, she joked that it must have been, because Nicole's father had no such talent.

The visitors who wandered the space were all connected to Nicole and her artistic journey. My own connection to her started in 2022, with four rings that I own and wear everyday. We first met at a music gig, then went to an artbook fair together and spent the night talking about balancing art with the all-consuming jobs we keep to pay our bills. I commissioned a simple silver ring, and was gifted along with it a wavy ring made of silver clay, and when I got my first tattoo (a swallow), she gave me a thin band with the cutout of a swallow. In 2024 I purchased another ring from Nicole, this time a cheeky oyster ring with a tiny pearl nested in the centre and treated with niello to bring out the folds of flesh.

All in dew time: Nicole's growing confidence in her craftsmanship and skill has been a delight to witness. Her philosophy of smallness and slowness is a balm for the world's whirlwind obsession with the next big disruptor of everything. It feels surreal to wear the Abundance Ring next to the other four rings, but also grounding. In her speech at the launch, Nicole talked about how she had always been drawn to pursue art, but lacked the confidence and genesis to do so before finding an avenue in metalsmithing. The Field Drip is her ode to patience, to taking the slow road into the woods, and she has emerged as an artisan with a renewed conviction.