Hello stranger!
It has been a while since you received my last newsletter, and I want to share three exciting updates about my shoemaking journey thus far.
In the process of sewing the shoe upper for my second women's shoe design (picture taken by @sewartsyinc
I am launching my capsule footwear collection later part of this year (FINALLY!). The women's shoe collection will consist of 1-3 styles and the best news is that I have started the sampling/production process of the first style with a factory! I cannot wait to share the actual shoes with you guys once they are ready.
I am currently making the second design in the collection at my home studio. It is a pair of Maryjanes as seen in the picture above. In case you are curious about my design process, please click here to learn more!
Creating my second women's shoe design - in the process of lasting the shoes
3. The best news of all news is that I am featured in the latest edition on Artisan Joy Magazine! This is my first featured magazine article and I am beyond thrilled to say the least. Click here to learn more about how I fell in love with shoes, my shoemaking journey, and other challenges I faced in starting my footwear brand.
My featured article on Artisan Joy Magazine (page 29 - 32)
Happy Chinese New Year - The year of dragon
While it has been a little more than two months since the start of the 2024, I would still like to say Happy New Year because the Lunar Chinese New Year falls on February 10th this year!
Just in case you are curious, I am going to share an interesting legend and personal anecdotes about Chinese New Year. Around the world, Chinese New Year is one of the most important celebrations among the Chinese population and lasts for 15 days. In Singapore where I was born and raised, the first two days are public holidays, and these are also the days where many families visit their relatives and friends.
One famous legend of Chinese New Year celebrations started in ancient China thousands of years ago because there was a terrifying creature called "Nian" (Year) that terrorized many villagers at the beginning of each year. The villagers discovered that "Nian" is scared of red colored items and loud noises, so they put up items that were red in color at their front doors and lit firecrackers to scare the "Nian" away from their houses. Personally I think this is probably the reason why many Chinese families still decorate their front doors with red decorative items till this day that have auspicious symbolism.
To celebrate the beginning of the year, Chinese families will clean their houses thoroughly - a.k.a spring cleaning - days before the first day of Chinese New Year to purge any residual bad luck from the year before and start the new year in freshly cleaned house. We also buy and wear new clothes when we visit our relatives. I remember growing up my father would bring us to this shopping mall called 'OG" in Singapore a few days before Chinese New Year, and we would spend a few hours trying on and buying new clothes.
I have very fond memories of Chinese New Year celebrations - when my father was still alive, we always started the first day of Chinese New Year by going to the temple to pray for good luck/health and pay our respects to our ancestors' urns placed within the temple. Looking back I think this ritual is rooted in the Chinese culture of never forgetting about your roots and where we come from, and paying respect to our elderly who had helped to raise us into the humans we are today.
I hope this women's shoe blog provides you with a little more insight behind my design process. Want to learn more about about my first women's shoe capsule collection? Subscribe to my weekly newsletter to get updates on my upcoming footwear collection!
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