inside the artist's studio: meeabee



Who?
Mee a Bee, all that's cute from Japan
(Jacqui Miyabayashi)

What? named for myself, my surname Miyabayashi - Miya B - Mee a Bee - it always seemed like a cute kid's label

More about me - I'm Jacqui, a New Zealander living in Japan. I came here to teach English on a stopover on my way to Europe - a few months turned into several years and I now live just outside Osaka with my husband of nine years and our two sons.





When?
I still don't call myself a designer, I'm just a person who enjoys sewing, luckily other people seem to like what I "design". The bags are all my own design. I make up my own patterns, I choose the colours and make the fabric choices myself, I guess that's designing.

Where? I have a degree in business management, an honours degree in marketing. I studied at the beautiful University of Waikato in Hamilton, New Zealand. More than anything I think I inherited my entrepreneurial spirit and my strong work ethic from my father. He owned many businesses over the years and from an early age I observed and helped him, even ran things for him in his absence as I got older.

meeabee

How? I have my own website which links to my online stores: http://www.meeabee.com
I mainly sell through Etsy. From next month you'll be able to buy Mee a Bee from Trifleshoppe.com, an exciting new venture! And for brick & mortar stores I have just reached an agreement with Cackleberry Kids & Friends in Canberra, Australia - they have a small line of bags for boys in their store.

My online stores are filled with ready-to-ship bags. I love custom orders and these seem to flood in my Facebook fans, blog readers, family and friends. The easiest way to get the ball rolling is to "request a custom item" via my etsy store.

I don't sell fabric or books as a rule but I am happy to point you in the right direction if I can. I specialize in bags for children. Adults bags take a lot more fabric and extras so become prohibitively expensive. I don't make them.

Visit Jacqui:
web: meeabee.com
blog: bloomingnihon.blogspot.com
etsy: meeabee.etsy.com
twitter: @meeabee
fb: fabebook.com/meeabee

XoXo
Kristina

7 comments:

Nevenka Balunovic said...

Great story.
Jacqui seems so nice. I love her work. :)

Made by SwirlyGirl said...

Jacqui's posts, tweets, and blogs always seem so cheerful and friendly! Thanks for featuring her! Love the bags, too!

Unknown said...

Loved the feature. I really like hearing a little about a seller's background. Jacqui always has the most well put together bags. They're fantastic.

stickytiki said...

Mee a Bee is the best!! Check out the Frida ones she made for us! x

kristina said...

i love the frida bags :) lucky you ;)

Tania McCartney said...

Love your work, Jacqui!

Eva said...

aw, you are gorgeous!
I enjoyed peeking into your studio :)

Post a Comment