Super Cute Creators Interview: Twinkie Chan

When I saw so many people had voted Twinkie Chan as the most kawaii person of 2014 in the SCK Awards, I knew I had to interview her. With her cute crochet products, colourful fashions and expanding empire, Twinkie Chan has always been an inspiration for me and I’m glad you think so too! Read on for another inspiring look into the life of a kawaii creative!

Introduce yourself! Who are you, what do you make and what do you do in your spare time?

I design and crochet fun, food-themed accessories for you and your stuff, like cheeseburger scarves, cupcake mittens, and corn dog pen cozies! I started to make scarves for myself in 2005 and then randomly decided to create a website to see if anyone would buy any. I was working in publishing at the time, and now all I do is crochet crochet crochet! I also have a diffusion line called “Yummy You! by Twinkie Chan” where we take my more popular crochet designs and produce them overseas to make my work more accessible to more people. I blog at my website, www.TwinkieChan.com, and share free crochet patterns, outfit photos, monthly giveaways, and I’ve also started to focus more on crochet tutorials on YouTube. I like to encourage people to have fun with their fashion as well as their crafting! In my spare time, I like to hang out with my doggies, watch movies, and eat dinner with friends!

Where do you live and what’s it’s like there?

I live in San Francisco where it can feel like winter during the summer, hence, my vast personal scarf collection! This is a really creative and eclectic city, with all kinds of people smushed into a 7 mile x 7 mile area. We have a lot of local arts and crafts events of all kinds, which is very inspiring!

What was your first experience with kawaii culture and why does kawaii inspire your work?

My family is from Hong Kong, and we go back to visit from time to time. You can’t NOT experience kawaii culture when shopping in Hong Kong. As a teenager, I kind of shunned it, because I felt like as a young, Asian girl, I was expected to love everything cute. However, in my 20s, I embraced it ironically and then earnestly. I love how Japanese street fashion is so colorful and expressive. Even if people feel that they can’t fully adopt a super unconventional look, I hope to show people that you can at least have fun with one statement accessory!

What cute products can you never resist buying for yourself?

I can’t seem to stay away from polka dot print, heart print, and happy candy colors in my clothes. I also have a ridiculous amount of hair bows and food-themed jewelry and food-themed purses. One of my odd and specific collections is plush bananas with cute faces on them!

What was the first product you made/designed for sale and how does it compare to what you sell now?

My first products were my food-themed scarves and included cupcake, toast, salad, bacon & eggs, sushi, and peas n carrots, and while the shapes and yarns may have changed over time, the spirit is really still the same. Now there are just more of them!

What are you working on at the moment?

I’m just about to start writing my second crochet book, so stay tuned! My first crochet book, Twinkie Chan’s Crochet Goodies for Fashion Foodies, came out in 2010, so I’m definitely ready to share more crochet fun with everyone! It won’t have scarves in it this time. It’s going to focus 100% on home goods to make your house cute and cozy!

What’s the most exciting thing that’s happened since you started your business?

Oh gosh, I feel like there have been a lot of exciting things, but I would say that it was super cool to partner up with a company to help produce my designs for the Yummy You! brand. For the first time, someone else was paying me to design crochet accessories and t-shirts and other stuff, and I was kind of blown away. We also took Yummy You! to the MAGIC trade show in Las Vegas, and I have to say, that I felt pretty baller at the time! Because of Yummy You!, I have also been able to work with Sanrio to produce a collaboration scarf, and to also have my products sold in places like Hot Topic, Delia’s, ModCloth, ThinkGeek, and Fab.com, which I never would have been able to do on my own.

What’s your dream ambition for your business?

I would love to develop my own niche in the craft supply world, either with a yarn line, or unique crochet hooks or accessories, something like that. I would also love to have a craft cafe, which is a bit unrelated to my business at the moment, but is just one of those fun dreams!

Who are your favourite kawaii designers and makers?

I have so many! Here are just a few:

• Tavuchi of Spank!
• Heidi Kenney of MyPaperCrane
• Kelly Eident of I’m Your Present 
• Aubree Roybal of Fatally Feminine
• Mel Stringer
• Em and Sprout

Where can we find you on the internet?

• Website: www.twinkiechan.com
• Blog: blog.twinkiechan.com
• Shop: twinkiechan.etsy.com
• Twitter: @twinkiechan
• Facebook: facebook.com/twinkiechan
• Instagram: @twinkiechan
• YouTube: youtube.com/twinkiechantv
• Yummy You: www.YummyYou.com

And finally, our readers picked you as their favourite blogger and second most kawaii person of 2014, just one vote behind Kyary Pamyu Pamyu. How do you feel about placing so high and the comments everyone left?

Holy surprise! I am so honored and really can’t believe it and so do not deserve it! I think the highest compliment is that people find that I am helpful. Having fun with hair and outfits is mostly something I do for myself, but it warms my heart so much for people to feel like I am reaching out to them. I mean, life can be tough, and the world can get you down sometimes, so I like knowing that we are here for each other, from fielding questions about crafty projects to just putting smiles on each other’s faces for even a moment!

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This interview is part of our Super Cute Creators series – look out for more soon.

All photos by Twinkie Chan