FINDERS KEEPERS | MASTERS & MUSES | WORLD OF CABANA

 

Rosa Park, founder of Cereal Magazine and the Bath, UK, and Los Angeles-based Francis Gallery, shares with Cabana the stories of two extraordinary objects that have passed through her hands: her greatest find and the piece she’ll keep forever. She also gives us a peek behind the doors of her former Georgian townhouse in Bath. 

 

BY ROSA PARK | MASTERS & MUSES | 9 OCTOBER 2026

 

My Greatest Find: Antique Zuni Fetish from Shiprock Gallery in Santa Fe, New Mexico

On my first trip to Santa Fe about a decade ago, I made the pilgrimage to Shiprock Gallery, of course, and spent hours there on that initial visit. What caught my eye above all was a small vitrine of fetishes. My partner Rich and I each ended up acquiring an antique bear fetish: a simple one carved from bone for him, and an "offering fetish" for me, wrapped with a string of heishi beads around the bear's torso. I love their simplicity and elegance.

I was lucky enough to meet the gallery's owner, fifth-generation art dealer Jed Foutz, on that visit. He kindly gifted me an antique buckskin pouch to carry my fetish in, and explained that this is how people once carried their fetishes with them — filling the pouch with ground cornmeal or crushed turquoise to sustain the animal's spirit.

Zuni fetishes — small, hand-carved animals — are believed to hold the "medicine," or spirit, of the animal they represent, and serve as sacred spiritual tools for the Zuni people, offering their owners protection and luck. As a sign of respect, and to sustain their power, traditional owners treat these carvings as living beings, feeding them, as Jed described.

I care deeply about how objects make one feel, and I felt an instant connection to these small bears, not only for the artistry of the individual carver, but as powerful symbols of courage, healing, and renewal.

Antique fetishes like these are increasingly hard to come by now, finding them within hours of arriving in Santa Fe still feels like kismet.

 

 

The Piece I'll Keep Forever: Korean silver vessel, from Emperor Gojong’s Hanseong Craft Workshop

My grandfather was an avid collector of Korean paintings and crafts, and after he passed away, his collection was dispersed among family members. One of the objects passed on to my father is a small silver vessel from the early 1900s, shaped like a vase or carafe. Growing up, I saw it first at my grandparents’, and later at my parents' — but I never knew where it came from, or what it meant.

In 2017, I was in Seoul researching ahead of launching Francis Gallery, and came across a selection of silver pieces on display at the National Museum of Korea. They had been made by the Hanseong Craft Workshop set up by Korea's last emperor, Gojong, to produce work that merged Korean design with growing Western influence. The workshop was later known as Yiwangjik Art Factory, during the Japanese colonial era.

My dad had come with me to the museum, and it was there that he told me the piece at home was from that same imperial workshop. Every object the workshop produced was inscribed on the bottom with a Chinese character meaning "beauty," and most were also engraved with a plum blossom, a symbol of perseverance and hope. After that visit, my dad gave it to me, telling me it felt like the right time to pass it on.

This vessel connects me to my family and my heritage in a way no other object does. I will keep it forever, and pass it on to my son.

 

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