It was a sunny afternoon in April, and we were sitting near West Lake in Hanoi, when we heard a soft, trickling sound. "This is the sound of summer", my friend said. The sound came from the falling seeds of the flame tree. "You can always hear it around here during the first warm days", she said. Since then, for me, summer in Hanoi starts with this sound.

I picked up seeds and shells, cleaned and dried them and threaded them into this latticed shape to make earrings and necklaces.