Could you briefly introduce yourself and your business?
I'm Abby. I am a Guatemalan and Korean creator here in Chicago. I'm currently a student at UIC, in my last year to get my art education degree. I love working with and teaching people. I really like to teach sculpture, because I feel like it's a very expressive medium for students, and it's not always offered to kids. And for Shop Tokki Star, that's been going on for five years, six years in May. I started my sophomore year because I am chronically ill. I have chronic migraines, and it was really hard for me to get a fully stable part time job. I started making stuff for people. I started making more physical art, and people wanted to buy it. I eventually started on Depop and then moved to the website I have now.
Could you speak to your journey of discovering your love for art and honing your artistic skills to the point of making a business out of them?
I've always been doing art. In Korea, there's a ceremony called the 100 Day Ceremony, and it's a big celebration when you turn 100 days [old]. They place a bunch of items in front of you, and they're all very symbolic. They just put the baby on the floor, and whichever [item] they crawl to that's like their destined path. And I picked up the paintbrush.
My mom was so mad, there was a stack of dollar bills next to it. I was always trying to figure out how to make things. I got really into polymer clay, I feel like a lot of artists might have had the polymer clay phase. And then I started working with more digital art. Within high school, I was part of a program called advanced arts placement, and you got to go to one big building downtown and take extra art classes that would give you credit for high school and even college. And I think that just pushed me further, because everyone there was very supportive. They really wanted to see you succeed, because a lot of us came from, like, not the greatest places. They really wanted to push us to be the best we can be, both technically and creatively. I would say that was a really big [reason as] to why I decided to start selling art. I was introduced to digital art through there, and my teachers were very supportive. And that made me want to be a teacher too.
You’ve talked about how your clothing is inspired by your love of J-Rock, cute things, and coming-of-age films. Could you speak a bit more to how those influences have shaped your brand?
I really hate to admit it, but like, I guess it's cool now. A part of me still cringes inside. But I really love anime.
I especially really love Fooly Cooly, The Tatami Galaxy, and Kill la Kill. Those are pretty much the biggest inspirations for me, anime wise and artistically. I also really love Chobits. All of these stories about emotion and trying to figure out who you are without it being just a straight journey, kind of metaphorically told through all of these like crazy, crazy visuals, and the music behind it. I would say the music in Fooly Cooly inspires me the most. It was done by The Pillows, a Japanese band. That's basically like, Japan's equivalent to the Beatles.
I really wanted to make physical pieces, not just prints. Something physical that you can wear out into the world and interact with. Art that has a utilitarian purpose is really important to me, because I am a hoarder. So I'm like, it has to have a purpose if I'm gonna bring it home with me!
When you see people around with your art and wearing products that you've made, does that make you feel a sense of fulfillment?
You know, people always are like, you can't really make a career out of art. So whenever I see my stuff out in the wild, I'm just like, “Wow, I really did it guys.”
And that was my goal, because I also had a lot of people who were like, “You're a one hit wonder. You're one note, because all you do is like rabbits.”
And I'm like, well, you're not really reading any deeper into my art. I'm not one note. Look at it. It's all over the place, and I'm all over the place.
As someone who has successfully founded their own business, what advice would you give to people who are looking to do something similar to what you're doing?
Number one, if you're going to make any product, start with stickers. People love stickers. If you don't love stickers, I can't help you. I would say that makes up the majority of my sales. But the next bit of advice is to have patience with yourself and with others, because when people see you succeed, they're gonna tear you down. It's kind of like these snide comments, like being called one note. But you don't have to justify yourself to anyone else. If this makes you happy, then do it. It's better to be happy than to just listen to other people and be miserable. Just have patience with yourself and be kind to yourself. Not everything happens overnight. I've been doing this for five years.
Have there ever been moments where you felt disillusioned enough to want to give up? How do you overcome that?
Yeah. There was a period last year where I really thought about stopping, because I had just lost a lot of my support systems. It felt like because I didn't have this person here with me, that I wasn't meant to succeed. I felt like they were tied to my success, in a way. Then I started thinking about it, and I was like, I've been doing this so far without them, and I'm doing fine. That's where I say to have patience with yourself, because healing is hard. Healing isn’t linear. It's also great to just take a break. I didn't release anything for a really long time, not because I didn't want to work on things, but there was a lot of other stuff going on. I was in summer school, and also in a creative rut. So instead of forcing myself to draw, I would rather just take a break.
What’s next for Shop Tokki Star? Do you have any dreams/future goals for the business or as an artist?
I’ll be hosting my own gallery towards the end of the semester. I don't [usually] have an opportunity to display more of my sculptural art. I wanted to [express] how healing isn't linear, and do that through sculpture and ceramics this time around, to do something different.
