That's exactly what I've had to do for the past month and a half: make, make, make. Make things for my shop for the holiday shopping season, make attempts at new designs and make preparations for my first ever 'event.'
A couple of weekends ago, a group of Etsy sellers in the Tokyo region got together to participate in Make: Tokyo Meeting 07 at the Tokyo Institute of Technology. This was our collaborative booth-- each box represented a different shop. My box was on the far right.
Though the focus of the event was on technology-based creations-- robots, machinery and such-- they also had a section for handmade goods, which was where we were. And what variety we offered too! Each shop had its own distinct style, which hopefully, made it fun and interesting for the visitors to explore.
We even had a workshop section at our booth, offering button-making and wood picture frame-making (that by one of the sellers). Kids especially, seemed to enjoy the button-making, happily showing off their original buttons once they were finished.
Since Etsy still isn't well known in Japan, this event provided a good opportunity to gain exposure for the online craft market. In fact, many people were interested, both from the standpoint of sellers and shoppers. And interest in our shops ranged from children...
... to adults.
Truth be told, I was somewhat nervous going in to the event, not knowing what to expect, but with the other sellers there for support and camaraderie, I ended up having a really good time. And I was surprised to find that talking to customers wasn't so hard and actually... fun!
All in all, it was a great experience. And now, I'm off to re-make things for my shop...
