Home & Living

The three-legged toad, cut here in crystal. One of the best known wealth symbols in Chinese tradition, the toad, the Jin Chan, is usually shown with a coin in its mouth and three legs beneath it. Legend places it on the moon, and folklore...

The Pixiu, carved in beige jade. The wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, the Pixiu has the head of a dragon and the body of a winged lion, and is said to draw in gold and silver and keep every bit it takes. Cut...

Obsidian, cut to a point, grounding in its simplest form. Volcanic glass formed when molten rock meets cold air, obsidian has been kept for grounding and protection for as long as people have carried stone. Shaped into a prism, it makes a quiet, deliberate...

A keyring built from four small guardians of Tibetan and feng shui tradition. Each charm carries its own meaning. The six-character mantra, Om Mani Padme Hum, is the mantra of compassion. The bell is rung to clear and settle a space. The vajra stands...

The Pixiu is the wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui. A mythical creature with the head of a dragon and the body of a winged lion, the Pixiu is said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to release what it...

A prayer wheel holds a written mantra inside its turning drum. In Tibetan Buddhist practice, each turn of the wheel is counted as a recitation of the mantra coiled within it, a way of carrying intention into the day without words. Spinning it is...

A brass Hu Lu, blessed before it reaches you. The Hu Lu takes its shape from the calabash gourd, once dried and used to carry medicine and sacred objects. Its double-gourd form is read as the meeting of heaven and earth, and Taoist practice...

A cool stone, drawn slowly across the skin at the end of the day. Crystal rollers have long been part of a slower beauty routine, used in gentle upward strokes to help a serum sink in and to give a few quiet minutes back...

The dragon turtle, carrying a Hu Lu for health. The dragon turtle joins two natures in one creature: the dragon's drive and the tortoise's patience and steady back. In feng shui it is kept to draw steady wealth and to bring supportive people into...

A still figure for a still corner. This Buddha is finished in a soft gold glaze over ceramic, the kind of surface that catches light without shouting for it. The glass-like finish holds a quiet glow, shifting gently as the light moves through the...

The Hu Lu, carved in obsidian and etched with the Heart Sutra. The Hu Lu takes its shape from the calabash gourd, long used in Chinese practice to draw off unsettled energy and hold it away from a room. Cut here from black obsidian,...

Three bells hung under a pagoda roof, with the bagua above.In feng shui the metal element is what moves still air. A chime is hung at a threshold so that each time the door opens or the wind turns, the sound goes through the...

A raw smoky quartz point, bound with wire to an open band.Smoky quartz is the darker cousin of clear quartz, coloured by natural radiation in the ground. It has long been kept for grounding and for letting go of what is finished, the stone...

Three rings of jade, one inside the next, cut from a single stone. The mother and child ring (母子环) is an old carver's form: a disc cut into rings that sit one inside the other, the smallest at the heart, so the piece stands...

Guan Gong, standing, carved in wood behind a pierced frame. Guan Yu was a general of the Three Kingdoms and became Guan Di, the god of loyalty and righteous protection, kept by shopkeepers, police and anyone whose word has to hold. In the car...

A clear sphere filled with gold leaf, set on a black wooden stand. The feng shui ball is kept for movement, the idea that fortune should circulate rather than sit, and gold leaf inside glass makes that visible: every flake catches a different angle...

A brass tablet between two lions, carved with three characters: 石敢当. Shi gan dang means, near enough, the stone dares to stand. For over a thousand years small stones cut with these words have been set into walls and at the ends of lanes...

A column of brass bells on a red cord, tassel below. Bells are the simplest metal element object in feng shui. Hung at a door or a window, they move the air that has gone still and announce whoever comes in. Strung in a...

A brass bell, five coins and a tassel, made to hang at a door. In feng shui, the sound of metal is used to move air that has gone still and to mark a threshold, and a bell by the door does both each...

A pixiu carved in matte obsidian, hung on an adjustable beaded cord. The pixiu (貔貅) is the wealth guardian of Chinese feng shui, a winged creature said to feed on gold and silver and, having no way to let it out, to keep every...