Crochet gifts in Hong Kong | Little Egg Crafts
Looking for crochet gifts in Hong Kong? Check out our local brand interview with Little Egg Crafts, a Hong Kong brand that offers crochet toys influenced by Hong Kong and East SEA culture. Are you looking for a cute keychain gift or dimsum decor?
Tell us about your business! What inspired you to start selling crochet gifts?
Hope & Rose: “Little Egg Crafts is co-founded and co-owned by two best friends – Hope & Rose – that’s us in our logo! We’re both Hongkongers, born & raised. One of us is multiracial, with Hong Kong Chinese, Japanese and White-British heritage. One of us is Filipino. We’ve both had very multicultural upbringings and have often found a sense of belonging within the cross-cultural / third-culture community. We’re currently operating from England and Hong Kong – with free postage across both!
At Little Egg Crafts we design and create amigurumi [crocheted or knitted stuffed toy] inspired by our shared Hongkonger culture, our heritages and by the things we love. All our shop items are handmade to order by us
Amigurumi (編みぐるみ in kanji) directly translates to ‘crocheted or knitted stuffed toy’. This is the Japanese art of knitting or crocheting small, stuffed plushies using yarn. The word is a blend of the words:
‘ami (編)’ = crocheted or knitted
‘nuigurumi (ぬいぐるみ)’ = a small, stuffed doll “
What cultures/previous experiences helped to shape your vision?
“As HongKongers, our shop items are inspired by our shared culture. We are also inspired by our multicultural heritage and by the things we love. It’s no secret that we’re both foodies as well!
As for the vision for Little Egg Crafts, it’s been really nice to have it as an outlet for our creativity as well as having something to keep busy with in the evenings and the weekend. Through our platform, we have also met so many East/Southeast Asia fellow creatives across the UK, Hong Kong, and internationally. It’s also been amazing to connect with community hubs that are working to uplift the voice of independent artists and ESEA voices.
We hope to be able to continue what we’re doing, continue to engage with more people through Instagram and meet some more fellow ESEA creators in real life once we’re all able to safely do so!”
We love meeting and supporting creatives and entrepreneurs too! Can you share your journey with starting the brand?
“Little Egg Crafts launched on Instagram in September 2020, with our first shop collection launching two weeks after that. With the pandemic, we were both staying home, working from home and didn’t have much else to keep our minds busy. We wanted to find something active and creative to do, but most importantly, we wanted to have something to work on productively together.
We are both self-taught in the craft and what started out as a new hobby, turned into Little Egg Crafts! We chatted on video calls and were messaging each other for about a month before our launch and then just went for it. We run Little Egg Crafts alongside full-time day jobs. Our main platform is Instagram. We’ve got a website with our full shop listings on as well as an order form for people to shop from us!”
That's great! Most of the battle is just getting started 🙂 What's the biggest challenge you guys faced so far?
“One of our biggest challenges was fulfilling the orders we got during Lunar New Year 2021. We were grateful to have been accepted to be featured in Besea.n’s Lunar New Year 2021 Gift Guide which led to an unprecedented surge in orders for our Year of the Ox collection across both Hong Kong and the United Kingdom! With just one of us in each country, it meant a lot of crocheting round the clock! It was our first experience of such a high demand for our handmade shop items!
The UK was also in a lockdown then, so sourcing supplies and materials to fulfil the unexpected flurry of orders was a challenge too! Nonetheless, our customers were really understanding and didn’t mind the longer wait or the postal delays.”
What's something important you've learnt along the way?
“Since starting Little Egg Crafts, we’ve updated our Order Form format and the way we ask for details. This is with the aim to streamline orders of shop items, whilst still leaving room for an individual to get in touch or make any custom requests.
We’ve learnt the importance of reiterating key information, such as verifying postage address and payment information, in every instance that we can. Even if we think we’re being repetitive, the more places we mention this, the more chance an individual will see the information and be sure about this when placing an order!”
We love the Hong Kong dimsum crochet gifts! Can you share a tip with us for people who are entering/on the same journey?
“We’ve always leaned into our DIY nature at Little Egg Crafts and our handmade/homemade aesthetic. We didn’t want to feel pressured into creating content that fits a specific style simply to ‘fit in’ or fulfil current trends. In short – we’ve stayed true to ourselves and our own style.
We’ve also really enjoyed collaborating or organising trades with other independent creatives.“
Crochet gifts in Hong Kong and UK
Online form (international shipping, free shipping in Hong Kong and UK): https://linktr.ee/LittleEggCrafts
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/littleeggcrafts
