Interview at eaoc.blogspot.com

1. Tell us a little bit about who you are and your life up to this point in time.

I am a Singaporean Peranakan Chinese living in a small and relatively modern country, Singapore. Peranakans refer to the descendants of the early Chinese community who settled in the Malay Archipelago from the 17th century. The Peranakan culture is a rich blend of the Chinese and Malay cultures with some influence from the Portuguese, Dutch, British, Thai, Indian and Indonesian cultures as well.

Singapore consists of Chinese, Malay, Indian and European immigrants, the culture of Singapore expresses the diversity of the population as the various ethnic groups continue to celebrate their own cultures while they intermingle with one another. I have a strong desire for handmade products as it allows me to be creative with my hands. My Peranakan cultural background provides a rich blend in style for my products. I sincerely hope that my handmade products would bring joy to you and your love ones.

2. Besides your fantasy creative life, what else are doing currently?

It seems like I can't get away from creative life as I am a Graphic Designer in the day. Designing printed materials, like brochures, catalogues, calendars, business cards, invitation cards...etc. Besides doing all the designing works, I also love to bake cookies.

3. What do you offer in your Etsy Shop?

I love cute and personalise products that will personalize my cell phone, gadgets and handbags, making it truly mine. As such, I would also like others to have such personalise products too. Therefore, I offer the followings in my Etsy Shop:

1) Appointment Diary with Personalized Initials

2) Note Pad with Personalized Name

3) Limited Phone/Bag Charms/KeyChains

4) Jewellery

5) Pouch Gift Sets

4. Where do you create?

All my products are created in my study room. I would sketch my thoughts and ideas on a sketch book and then convert it into a detailed blue-print. With this blue-print, I would then create it into a final product.

5. Where do you get your inspiration from?

I get my inspiration from almost anywhere. Example, a cute image from a t-shirt, wrapping papers, cloths, cartoon, children’s story books, plates, cups...etc.

6. How did you learn how to do your craft?

Self-taught from crafted book especially those felt charms (I should thank God for giving me this creative gift). As for printed products such as appointment diary, note pads, namecards..etc, they are taught by my aunties. They taught me how to bound the pads and do those printing layout.

7. How do you promote your wares?

I have printed postcards and business cards that I take with me everywhere I go. I also have a portfolio on linkreferral, facebooks, Dawanda, eCrater, a blog, flickr, Smidge, I love Etsy (unofficial website)and a personal website (desire2.com). I also give out samples of my products in trade shows from US, UK, Germany for their goodies bags. My philosophy of my product is that even if it is sitting in a shop somewhere untouched, someone will see it and remember it and would eventually find it’s way to a right buyer.

8. What has been the most important lesson you've learned since you started selling your own creations?

Go for an extra mile when serving a customer, even though the product may cost less than $5/-.

9. Is there any advice you can give others who are just starting out?

Be passionate about your work! This passion will stay motivated even if your sales are low.

Meet other members in the Etsy community, participate in the forums and chat rooms as these are great places to post questions and find help. Take good pictures of your work and provide many angles of shots so that your product speaks for itself. In my opinion the customer is the most important part of a successful Etsy business. Treat your customers like they are valued, give them a little extra, throw in a little discount whenever possible, ship your product promptly and hopefully the word about your site will spread through positive recommendations.

10.Do you have any favorite Etsy artists you'd like to promote here?

Yes, definitely! There are many favorite Etsy artists I like and they are:-

1) SaNaHandmadeSoap.etsy.com. This Etsy seller has a range of soaps that are suitable for sensitive skin.

2) HipBone.etsy.com .This soaps seller's philosophy is that if the customer like the product it will be worth the customer paying the shipping cost in the future.

3) Athenasolivetree.etsy.com. This seller can give good advice on her products which best suit your skin and also will not push to sell her products to you.

4) HOST.etsy.com.

The seller is friendly and help etsy artists who need helps. Of course there are also more others that I love to work with and I truly appreciate and enjoy their good service