🔓 The Spark

Jeon Jungkook had stated at the age of 15, “I'd rather die than live without passion.”

I heard this when I was 15 myself, and it never quite left me, although almost a decade had passed since then.

The Beginning

When I first set foot into creating North Stargia, I knew that I wanted to eventually create member-specific jewelry pieces after my OT7 jewelry — The Bulletproof Collection.
Suga’s Courage earrings came to me first, while other pieces were distant, vague concepts — I couldn’t even pinpoint some of the jewelry pieces’ names, like V and Jin inspired ones.

However, even in the midst of all the obscured shapes in my mind, Jungkook’s jewelry name was clear as day: Passion.

The way he jumps headfirst into new challenges, stretching himself perhaps sometimes too thin for an impossible standard he has set for himself — and of course, that iconic quote all the way back in 2013 — it is clear that he cherishes and loves what he does, passionate about his aspirations and the craft he births into the world.
It took all but two seconds for me to circle that name, Passion, and give it a green light.

The Setback

Earliest ideas of my JK-inspired earrings began to take shape in May 2022, after my success with The Bulletproof Collection. At the same time, however, the trusted manufacturer I had worked with to create my first piece, Eternal, and subsequently Heaven and Haven, ended up scamming me.

I lost around three thousand dollars and was stuck with a lot of jewelry pieces that could not be sold due to poor quality. I wanted to jump headfirst into creating the member-specific jewelry, but the financial loss was a large one as a small business, and I couldn’t afford or risk gambling on multiple new designs with a new manufacturer.

To add fuel to the fire, by June 2022, one of my beloved cats, Kuri, was diagnosed with a costly and life-ending illness. His prognosis was three months, and with mounting medical bills to ensure his last couple of months were comfortable — alongside preparing for my last year of university —

I was about to quit.

But by that time, there was one design already complete in my sketchbook: Courage, the Agust D-inspired earrings.

I thought it would be rather fitting to end my jewelry journey with that design. To end it strongly. Besides, with everything else going on, that was the only thing I could afford — which meant I had to pause designing my other pieces, to pause creating JK’s design while I navigated this chapter of my life.

This was all that existed of Passion back then — inspiration boards, ideas, and nothing more. A mood board that I didn’t know I would ever get the chance to go back to.

[This moodboard was created solely for artistic inspiration and design commentary.
Some images were sourced from Pinterest; all rights and ownership remain with their original creators and photographers.]

As you can see, the initial idea was there — something asymmetrical with star-quality, something edgy like Suga’s piece but distinctively more JK. All these elements whispered JK’s essence, but it wasn’t quite there — not until May 2023, exactly a year later since the beginning of the mood board. So yes, this earring was designed prior to his album release, Golden, in November 2023 😉

The Return

It was truly a blessing to even be able to pick back up JK’s project. Courage’s release in summer 2022 after finding a good manufacturer led to some virality on TikTok that helped me further create Charisma and Hope. More of my videos went viral then, propelling me even further forward.

I had tried to think about Jungkook’s piece throughout this whole process, but other jewelry designs based on other members came to me a lot faster, hence I ended up prioritizing them.

But good things always take time.

During this year, I had successfully graduated from university with my two degrees, managed to find a good cardiologist for my cat and stabilized his health enough for him to live happily (albeit with four types of medications four times a day) past his three-month prognosis.

I had conducted my own research and even passed auditions to perform in Italy with my university’s graduate students and professors. I actually designed Freedom, the Jin-inspired piece, while I was at the airport going to Europe. One of my colleagues looked at me funny while I placed a ruler up to my computer screen to gauge sizing 😂 (More on that will be in Freedom’s Dossier.)

More importantly, I believe the full picture of Passion could only come because of the experiences I had that year.

I will never know what it was like to grow up in the K-pop industry, to live out of hotels while idols go on tour, or how their perception of life and time changes because of that kind of strict training and performance schedule. But I think it’s safe to say that I had a good taste of what it was like to be trapped between responsibilities, to be hungry and yearning to make it out successful — to be engrossed in your vision, no matter how busy, how cruel, or how much the world tested you.

And that was the exact feeling I wanted to encapsulate and put into form.

Because for the first time in my life — or at least ever since adulthood — I felt like I understood what JK meant when he said, “I'd rather die than live without passion.”

The Pendulum & the Star

I wanted those who wore his piece to feel that passion, that light, that ability to bounce back no matter how the world swung them around. That there is an inner star within one’s heart — whether that be God, your dream, or your loved ones — that brings you back to center.

A North Star that is there, no matter what mask you wear on the day-to-day.

As seen in the earlier mood board, I liked the aesthetic of the pendulum right from the beginning. I actually have one hanging on my lamp — a souvenir from one of the crystal shops I used to visit with my grandma when she was still alive. I liked how it would always go back to stillness no matter how many times I played with it while I was bored.

It felt more than fitting as a symbol of JK, perfectly describing his ability to balance his different roles — to exceed in the jobs he was given even when placed in situations that were unfair or unfamiliar. And aesthetically speaking, the pointed end and sharpness of pendulums captured him beautifully.

[This collage was created solely for artistic inspiration and design commentary.
Some images were sourced from Pinterest; all rights and ownership remain with their original creators and photographers.]

Just the pendulum didn’t give me that familiar “ah-ha” moment I always get with my pieces, however. But that — combined with the North Star center — that was something that made my heart flutter.

In fact, I remember jumping up from where I was doing night yoga, almost tripping and falling on my face as I scrambled to immediately do a mockup on Photoshop. Unfortunately, I did not sketch JK’s earrings out in a notebook, as I was working directly on Photoshop at this time — and especially with this crazy idea? I definitely could not make sense of it on paper.

 At least, not with my artistic capabilities. . .

When this event took place in May 2023, I had already begun incorporating special kinetic effects — like the mini heart locket in Love (Jimin’s earrings) and the spinning center stone of Freedom (Jin’s earrings).  That year’s journey also allowed me to find a phenomenal render artist who helped me with the technicalities of conveying new concepts to my manufacturer — instead of relying on my poor 2D drawing skills that often confused and lengthened the sample production process.

The experiences of creating Love, Freedom, and working with my render artist eventually led to the final missing piece of Passion: the magnetic face.

The pendulum that swings, yet always finds its center.

A center made out of one’s core essence — their Passion, even if it may not be always visible to the public eye. 

Jungkook has worn many masks, many roles in his life.
He was the youngest in BTS while HYBE was still trying to make ends meet, crammed in bunkbeds, sharing a single room with six others who wanted the dream just as much as he did. He placed his bet on RM, on BTS, instead of other notable entertainment companies that wanted him.

And no matter what age, what roles, what masks he wore — that compass within, that passion, never left him as he continued on. Even now, with the mask of a global star, a golden maknae, a K-pop legend — that star within hasn’t changed. That compass to give his all, to live with passion.

This — this was just the beginning of the story to the long journey of Passion, JK-inspired earrings.

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Next File 002: The Forge
You will learn more about what the jewelry looked like in its initial form, what had to be done during rendering, technical issues and successes, and what took place during sample production.