Peranakan Style Jewelry

Right, so a quick explanation. I'm a peranakan, also known as a straits-born chinese. Basically my ancestors came to south east asia a long time ago and settled in Singapore, Malacca and some parts of Java.

We're kind of a dying culture.. as of now we're mostly known for our awesome food, british ties and crazy matriarchs.

Above is a line drawing of a brooche(r) and earring(l). I can't say much about the earring save that its design is unique to the peranakan and since the peranakan of old were rich, they used to commission such pieces from India. If you notice there is some hindu-islamic influence in the design.

The brooches (called kerosang - 'heart' in baba malay) usually come in threes and used like buttons down the blouse of a tradition garb called a baju panjang. This one is called the kerosang ibu(mother) and the other two that follow below it are known as kerosang anek(children). These are usually smaller and round in shape.



What spurred me on to do this? School. One of my modules studies the peranakan culture in relation to vernacular 3D design.