I never got a chance to finish up this blog entry because I started it in 2019 after my Japan trip, but then I was hoping for events to go to in 2020, where I would showcase the collection! Unfortunately, everyone knows how the rest of that goes. But late is better than never right? And since in-person events are slowly starting to pop up again, I want to share this story, since it's a good one! This is a story about Japanese artist Kunshoyasan (also known as Chi) and our encounter that led to a collaboration!
In 2018, I met Chi at Tokyu Plaza in Harajuku while on my first ever, month long trip to Japan!
She was selling her handmade goods at a small craft fair they were holding. I took a look at her cute, handmade accessories and they just looked so tasty, as if they were real foods! (Almost good enough to eat!) We had a nice conversation and I soon found out she would also be attending Design Festa (which was the main reason I was in Japan at that time). I was so excited to hear that and wanted to make sure I go see her there too and support if I could! We were able to meet, not only at Design Festa, but even before I returned back home to Canada! We kept in touch and discussed doing a collaboration together afterwards.
Here are a few blog entries from my first trip including Chi, as well as posts from her blog!
My Japan travels continued in late 2019, where I returned for another month. I met up with Chi a couple of times so that we can discuss and start our collaborative project. When we decided on some cute designs, we went to the craft store to pick up materials, which was located in Shinjuku. It was such a cool store with various floors! We picked out some super cute ribbons that we thought would match each piece, as well as other notions we needed. There are so many cool craft shops in Japan. We met up at the Murakami Cafe (Bar Zingaro) in Nakano Broadway to start working together and even got a few photos! She had prepared the clay pieces ahead of time and I sprinkled them up once I returned back to Canada. (Since the end of my trip was coming up)
Here are a few blog entries from this trip by Chi. Click to take a look!:
I present to you our special collaboration accessories set! Only a couple of pieces were made, making this a very exclusive drop! We do plan to create more in the future (once I can get myself back to Japan!) We've created a GHOST GiRL cookie brooch and a Pomopji cookie choker! Each cookie piece is a little different! So each one is special!
We made 2 variations of the GHOST GiRL cookie brooch:
Orange x Yellow and Green x Purple.
The Pompoji cookie choker has different variations of the blue and pink polkadot ribbon!
We hope you like our designs! These accessories will only be available at in-person events! We don't know when our next in-person event will be, seeing as that things are always changing daily. But for now, it looks like it will be Yeticon, happening in June!