Happy New Year!! The beginning of the year is always full of new goals, new ideas and reflecting on the previous year. I am definitely feeling very hopeful going into my first
convention of 2025 at Anime Los Angeles in just a few days!
But looking back, 2024 was a lot. I couldn't find a job in animation, and publishing alone couldn't really sustain an income for me. And so, my husband and I decided to start Kayan Pepper Co. That kicked off a year full of learning with many fails and a handful of wins along the way. Starting a new business is scary but also so much more rewarding than working for someone else. The feeling we get coming off a successful
convention is absolutely priceless! With that said - 2025: please be nice to us, lol.
Getting back to the wins, I want to thank everyone who supported us at our in person markets last year. One thing that was a big win for us last year was our stickers. This was one of the first items we started making ourselves in our little home studio (my bedroom.). When we first started making stickers, we had a really tough time getting the work flow down and we felt like we were wasting tons of time and materials just to get a few good ones. Now, for the most part we have gotten it down to a science.
So here are some stickers that were the big winners of 2024:
In first was 'Shrimple Minded.' This sticker was so far ahead of all the others we could barely keep them in stock. Shrimps are in!
Second runner up has to be 'You're Toadst,' and in 3rd place 'Got Crumbs.'
I've made a few new ones to debut this year like 'Sending Love' (oh man I love pigeons.) When I was little and still living in Hong Kong, I always wanted to have a pigeon deliver letters for me to my grandma who lived in the US. Pigeons were special to me because we mostly had sparrows where we were living, and I rarely saw them.
Another new sticker we're making is the Chili Crisp jar: I love spice. Sometimes when people ask me what I do, I have this fantasy that we are actually a hot sauce company; maybe someday...