The first stop of my three-week trip in Scotland this summer was Glasgow. Although the city is not as glamourous as Edinburgh, I tend to have a bias towards Glasgow, partly because of Charles Rennie Mackintosh, and partly because of its friendly residents.
This year marks the 150th anniversary of the birth of [...]

 
One big mistake I made when I was planning my trip was that I underestimated the traveling and transferring time of using the public transport in Japan. Trains are punctual and frequent if you are traveling to major and more populated cities, but it becomes more complicated if you want to go [...]

 
Sometimes it doesn't matter how much planning you do before your trip, things would still go wrong... but miraculously, some kind strangers/ locals would appear out of nowhere to help you out. I am sure many people have had these experiences when they travel, and I think it is probably the most [...]

Honen-in temple by the Philosopher's path
 
The older I get, the more I believe that everything happens for a reason, which includes the people we encounter over the course of our lifetime. And since I started running my own business, I discovered that when you follow your heart and passion, you are [...]

 
Left: Selecting products for the Christmas fairs; Right: New postcards with info of the Christmas fairs
 
Since our e-shop first started 5 years ago (I can't believe it has been 5 years already!), we have participated in different pop-up Christmas fairs around London. They serve as our opportunity to meet customers/ potential [...]

Charlene's initial draft of the home page
 
The initial idea of selling art books and zines emerged about 2 years ago, stemming from my passion for printed matters and reading. Having launched three themes focusing solely on products, it seems like a change of direction to sell books, magazines and zines. Yet I [...]

 
Three weekends of Christmas market at the Barbican Centre
 
I admit that I am not a natural salesperson. I have always worked behind the scenes, and selling face to face is a 'skill' that I had to learn when I started this business.
I know that popping up once a year is not [...]

Katamaku - an upcycled stationery and product range
 
In the last 2 months, we added three new product ranges from Japan, including: upcycled stationery by KATAMAKU, textile products by Tenp, and Sola cube and Sola Zukan by Sola.

During my trip to Japan earlier this year, I met up with Japanese architect Shimon [...]

Top left & right: Christ Church and Spitalfields market; Bottom left & right: Another Christmas market and street art outside of the Old Truman Brewery.
 
This year was our third consecutive year to be showing at the East London Design Show, and the venue had changed from Shoreditch town hall to the [...]

 
In the past few years, I noticed a "back to basic" trend happening in the developed countries, and even in product designs, many designers have opted for less decorative style and creating products from natural material. Simple wooden toys also seem to have made a comeback, which I am quite happy to [...]