Meet the Maker Month: Kurumi and Nanami of Cotton Candy Sutajio
We are 2 Japanese girls who live in Montreal! We love cute stuff! So we decided to design, create cute accessories with our hands!!:) We mostly make earrings, but we are always brainstorming something new as well!
Where do you get the ideas from? We get ideas from everywhere!!! When we are walking outside, window shopping cute boutiques... etc..! And of course and we are just chatting, we come up with random ideas and by talking it out, the idea becomes clear!
What made you start a small business? We really wanted to do something we are passionate about!! We wanted to love what we do every day...:)
Is it hard to start a small business? It is hard! But also very fun!!! Especially, since we started to join local popups, we met lots of cool artists and the community is very supportive and warm! Just connecting those warm people makes it worth starting the small businesses:)
What does being a Maker mean to you? To be passionate about what we design and create!
What motivates you to create? The love for creating cute stuff! And our customers very warm feedbacks!!
How have you developed your skills? We are self-taught! But watching some YouTube videos, reading some articles helped us too!
Where are you from and how does that influence your work? We are from Japan:) it definitely influences our work! Sometimes we tried to look at what's popular in Japan or what kind of Japanese patterns we may be able to use for design.
How have your life experiences shaped your art? That's a tough question! Haha but I personally moved to Canada when I was in high school and I didn’t speak any English. From that experience, I learned not to give up. This applies to my work/art as well. I don't give up until I create something I like.
How has the pandemic impacted your creativity? It actually gives me more time, I'd say. Since we mostly stay home due to the pandemic, we have more time to brainstorm, create the accessories at home.
What themes do you pursue in your work? Our themes are always cute!! We try to use lots of pastel colors, pink, lavender, light blue, etc.
Tell us about your first sale When we had the first sale, I remember we messaged each other be like "omg! We have a sale!!!!"! Haha We even meet up to wrap the first sale item together! We were so happy! We were also very happy when we had the first review! It was such a sweet review and it made our day...!
Describe your creative process First, we brainstorm, like drawing on the paper, thinking about the colorways, etc. Second, we start making them! We try again and again until we satisfy with the outcome:)
What steps are you taking to ensure your growth as a maker? We are still figuring it out! Haha Since it's pandemic, it's tough but going to the market, joining the popups, and connecting with makers definitely helps us grow!
What initially drew you to your craft? We always are interested to create something by hand. I think it came very naturally. We just were looking for something we can make even at home and we came up with creating cute accessories!
What story do you want to tell with your work?
We really like to express our uniqueness with our accessories. We want our customers to feel they are unique, special, and cute!!!!