Hello!

ITA Certified Teacher 006, Juveina Sim from Singapore recently attended  an anime event in Singapore, Doujinfes @ Leisure Park Kallang and here is the event report. 

Doujinfes @ Leisure Park Kallang was held on 24 & 25 February 2024. It was an exciting weekend where cosplayers, artists, creators, makers, fans etc gathered together to hang out, take photos, shop at Artist Alley etc.

There are many booths by amazingly talented creators who market their original illustrations, fan art merchandise, handmade crafts etc. 

Doujinfes Team

Juveina would like to share a bit about the things she sells at events.

“For my boothing, I put a lot of thought into every piece of creation and initially I just wanted to make things that I myself would use. 

However, I had a greater purpose in life. I want to keep tsumami zaiku alive for as long as I can. For that, I feel that I need to reach an audience as wide as possible, so my mindset soon changed to making things that will make people want to own, so that tsumami zaiku will have a small place in their life, whether as earrings or hair accessories or charms etc. 

As kanzashi is not very relevant in modern times and also in Singapore, I decided to incorporate tsumami zaiku into modern accessories because the more people know about the craft, the longer it lives.

My best selling product type is actually earrings. I use a variety of materials to make tsumami for earrings. Chirimen, Japanese cotton, silk, linen etc. I want my earrings to be able to accentuate, not overshadow, the wearer’s overall OOTD, so I make simple maru-tsumami earrings but using a variety of different materials and colours. They are really popular because there are so many choices!

I personally love making accessories that are youthfully irresistibly cute. My chirimen Hanami Dango hairclips are very popular as well, and I always have to set aside time to specifically restock them so as not to disappoint my customers. A lot of people say that they cannot use cute things anymore when they become an adult because it is unbecoming. I hope to make accessories that are so cute that people of all ages will want to wear, no matter what. 

My favourite material to work with is chirimen because I want to keep my tsumami zaiku as authentically traditional as possible. I want to make it as close to how it was made more than 200 years ago, and using chirimen and starch glue helps me feel a connection to the craftpeople who has ever worked on this craft from the past till now and also until the future. This is the connection and bridge of the past and future that I pursue endlessly, that gives me the meaning and the will to continue my tsumami zaiku.  Although habutae is another traditional material, I regretfully rarely use it because it is not very economical.”

The crowd was very good and full of friendly enthusiastic wonderful people. The vibes were amazing and she was able to share about tsumami zaiku to many people who are interested in Japanese culture.

Juveina will also be attending the next Doujinfes event at HomeTeamNS Bedok Reservoir on 27-28 April 2024, 11am to 7pm. (Free entry.)

Do come say Hi and do tsumami zaiku together! See you!