The Ugly Duckling

I just enjoyed my experience having a store at Arts for Grabs. It was my first time. I felt embraced by a vibrant energy of young, enthusiastic people who have so much potential, creativity, drive and passion about them! Some of the stalls were so original and surely, the things were made with love and care.

I was particularly impressed with the work of this group of young women, who created a Pasar Malam in miniature.



There were t-shirts with whacky messages for sale.
There were more t-shirts with the artists original drawings.


There was a poet selling poetry on the spot!



A box of ideas were sold out like hot cakes.

There were beautiful woven fabrics made into bags by a group of indigineous Burmese refugee. UN is helping to promote their work to give them a source of income. There were two stalls selling food, one homemade sushi, the other homemade pricey jam and cookies. Amateur artist displaying art

I decided to change the display of the toys to make them more attractive.

The "Old Friends" who were reunited at my store.





My Sales Promoter who got all the characters mixed up.

After a hard day's work.







A happy customer who wanted to take a photo with the toys.

Chubi – Chubi toys participated in Arts for Grabs at Central Market on 27 & 28 August 2009. The toys welcomed a new friend into their group Nana the Elephant.
Visitors who came over to my store were curious about the toys being made out of socks and gloves. Someone remarked “I hope I won’t be smelling “your” feet.” A college Art Director asked if I would like to run a workshop on creating toys with recycled material.
Another lady from a restaurant asked if she could write or produce a film about my idea of using everyday material and recycling things to create toys. A group of ladies who were old friends and had not seen each other for 10 years, bumped into each other in front of my store. After several photo sessions at my store and knocking over my toys over and over again, they invited me to join their society which promotes local crafts. I took a photo with a happy customer who bought Chiku. There was this little girl of 4, who bought Kuntum, and kept coming over to my store. Each time she came, Kuntum put on a new accessory, 1st a flower pin, then a ski cap, then a large rose pinned to the cap!

I've decided to leave the corporate world. I feel so lucky to be granted a cosy store at the Food Court in PJ Old Town, on Jalan Othman. I've painted my little kitchen a pretty pink/peach and printed with lacey/lady's fingers design. My store is number 52, the cosiest and prettiest. I promise to cook with love.
I am selling a Nasi Lemak combination with spicy food cooked in nyonya style recipe.
You can sample authentic Penang nyonya food at a fraction of what you will pay at a restaurant. I am serving acar-awak, otak-otak, gulai-tumis ikan, sambal udang, chicken curry kapitan and kerabu sayur paku. First 2 days promotion, sample 3 dishes for the price of ONE! OPENING DATE SUNDAY, 18 OCTOBER 2009. My food is MSG free, as all sweetness comes from the food itself. I don't serve pork too.
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Little Penang is a bazaar of sorts held every last Sunday of the month. It is held at upper Penang Road, opposite the grand E&O hotel.
I participated in the bazaar last August, featuring my creation of soft toys, Chubi-Chubi. They were enthusiastically received by the Penang folk and tourist. My store was set right beside the stage. There was entertainment throughtout the day from Temple of Fine Arts, a Scots lady with a soprano voice who is multi-lingual, a Capoeira performance, a Rap Group and a loud band.
The table beside mine, sold expensive good books and massage equipment and a reasonably cheap price. The lady manning the store turned out to be my ex-colleague. The store behind me is manned by a representative from the Spice Garden, a restaurant and gift shop in Teluk Bahang. She is so resourceful, using a hammer to break her coconut and scraping the coconut. She demonstrated her cooking skills and some recipes. Another interesting store was a costume jewelry store with accessories made out of bra hooks. That is originality! I did not expect to get free sewing tips/classes from my "fairy godmother" mentor. This older lady suddenly approached my store, walked behind it and stood behind me as I sewed. Then she began to correct my less neat stitches. Before I knew it, she was sewing and teaching me different forms of stitching and how to hide the thread.
It was a day of Receiving and Blessings. I got a business proposal for the Chubi-Chubi Toys. Yay!