qiezi

茄子, pinyin "qiézi", pronounced /ch'yeh-dz/, meaning "eggplant".

instead of saying “cheese”, we say “qiezi” in mandarin when we smile for a photo.

when michelle was in middle school, she and her friends made little charms from polymer clay and sold them as part of an entrepreneurship project. charms were crafted by hand, inspired by pop culture (think sailor moon, the powerpuff girls, and twilight lol), and made into necklaces or keychains.

in 2020, sarah received some polymer clay from her secret santa - just before we entered the first wave of confinement due to the pandemic. as roommates, michelle and sarah took advantage of the time stuck at home to be creative. we made a calendar of events, so we would have something to look forward to each day. michelle suggested using the polymer clay to create earrings - revisiting a hobby she had in the past. she made a unique pair of earrings for each member of the foam collective.

inspired by her mom’s chinese cooking, michelle handcrafts charms that represent vegetables in sichuan dishes such as spicy eggplant and spicy green beans. these are the staple vegetarian dishes that we order when we go out to eat at a chinese restaurant. now, we wear the miniature version on our ears and it makes us smile, as we feel connected to our parents and to each other. we hope it makes you smile too.