Fishfelon
Fishfelon is cutting-edge jewelry brand founded by Seungwoo Hong and Yue Zi. Based in the US, Fishfelon crafts 925 sterling silver pieces inspired by nature's strength and skeletal structures with both bespoke and ready-to-wear designs. Experience the fusion of architecture and fashion in our biomimetic jewelry.
SEP 30, 2025
Fishfelon is a US-based jewelry brand that fuses architecture and fashion in a biomimetic style. Today, we are with the founders of fishfelon. Please introduce yourselves and the brand.
We’re Seungwoo Hong and Yue Zi. One of us studied architecture, the other fashion. We didn’t set out to be jewelers, we just wanted to make things that felt sharp, raw, and alive. Jewelry happened to be the format that carried that energy best.
Coming from architecture and apparel backgrounds at school, how do those disciplines intersect in your approach to jewelry design?
Architecture gave us structure and precision. Fashion gave us movement and tactility. Put together, you get forms that are engineered but also wearable—skeletal, sharp, and draped on skin. We think of it like scaffolding wrapping the body. There’s always that pull between hard and soft, and we lean into that tension.
The name “fishfelon” feels mysterious and a little mischievous. Can you walk us through how you have decided on the name and the story behind the brand?
Honestly, the name wasn’t that deep. We were stuck on the word fish for a month…kept saying it out loud, joking around. It could’ve been Fishfelon or Fishmelon. Fishfelon just stuck. It sounded a little weird, a little wrong, and we liked that. The name doesn’t carry the weight; the work does.
Can you walk us through the products of Fishfelon, and the creative process of designing and making them?
It’s not clean or linear. We don’t sit down with mood boards or a seasonal theme. We sketch, bend, solder, and cast. Most things start as experiments that either fall apart or click once they hit the body. The pieces aren’t meant to be perfect objects—they’re meant to feel alive when worn. That’s why there’s this kinetic, skeletal energy in them. They move with you.
Sounds like Fishfelon is very spontaneous in its creative approach, letting the experience lead the product. What about the material? You work exclusively with 925 sterling silver. How does this material choice reflect or enhance the conceptual themes of your earlier architecture and apparel training?
Silver feels honest. It tarnishes, it carries fingerprints, it refuses to stay pristine. That reaction between the material and the person wearing it is what we like. It turns into something personal over time. Also, silver has weight. When you wear our pieces, you feel them. They’re not light little ornaments; they’re closer to armor or bone.
Your pieces are described as “skeletal, kinetic—built like scaffolding for the body.” How do you balance structure and intimacy in your designs?
We build like architects, but the pieces sit on skin. That’s where the balance comes in. Something rigid wrapping something vulnerable. That tension is what makes them intimate. We’re not trying to make jewelry that just decorates—we’re trying to make something that presses against you a little.
Your visuals and product photography are very distinctive. How do you approach brand imagery and storytelling?
The imagery has to feel like the jewelry. We don’t want glossy campaigns that look like everything else. We shoot raw, dark, sometimes even uncomfortable. It’s about mood, something that sticks in your head. The pictures aren’t just product shots, they’re part of the world we’re building. We’ve been collaborating with photographer Anastasia Chase since the birth of fishfelon and she has helped us realize a lot of who we are in the language of photography.
If someone wears a Fishfelon piece, what feeling or presence do you want them to carry with them by the end of the day?
Not “pretty.” Not “decorated.” More like marked. Like they’re carrying something personal, even a little mischievous. Our work is closer to a tattoo or scar than an accessory. It’s about presence more than adornment.
How do you see Fishfelon evolving in the next few years?
We’re not rushing scale. We’ll keep pushing the work further, sharper, stranger, heavier. Maybe it goes beyond jewelry, into objects, spaces, and clothes again. But the core won’t change. It’s about making silver into something alive and memorable. Jewelry is just the medium right now. Our end goal isn’t just jewelry; we’re trying to make fishfelon the air we breathe.