The Crystal Pearl Flower Norigae.

The story

Norigae has carried small precious things on the Korean body for centuries. A jade pendant, a small bell, a charm against the wrong luck people did not want to name aloud. The court norigae was often quiet jade. The household norigae sometimes carried color. The principle was that the chest spoke before the face did, and a bright detail at the chest was a way to start the room.

This piece works in crystal and pearl. Faceted crystals sit at the petal centers of a small metal flower. Freshwater pearls hand-string along the silk cord that runs from the knot to the tassel. The Seoul workshop sets the pearls one by one. The light catches the crystal first and the pearl second.

Worn at a wedding as a guest. The chest reads bright across the room. An aunt at the reception leans in to look at the petals and asks about the cord. The norigae has done what the small precious things have always done. It has started a conversation that the wearer did not have to start.