Kanojo Designs Etc.
— Hapa Holiday Marketplace —
Formerly known as “Kanojo Jewelry,” Kanojo Designs Etc. has rebranded since it now sells decoupage items like iPhone and laptop covers, wrap bracelets, and personalized bedazzled, patch magic jackets. Kanojo means girl/girlfriend or female third person (her/she) in Japanese, and the name survived the transition since a lot of the items have a Japanese influence.
Creator and artist Olivia Oguma is Japanese, Kazakh, Russian, and Italian. Fun fact: she spent most of her life thinking she was half-Asian, but learned from 23andMe that she is more than 50% Asian due to her mother's being part Kazakh! Olivia started decoupaging when she was in Mamma Mia! on Broadway at the age of 19. She continued decoupage art extensively on tour with Disney's High School Musical. She picked up bracelet making about 10 years ago, and the patch magic jackets were inspired by a friend’s thrift store find, right before the lockdown. Since the pandemic, and subsequent lockdown, Olivia finally had the time to start an Etsy store for Kanojo Designs Etc.
We asked Olivia about her favorite gifts, either given or received. “I think the best gift I ever gave was taking my mom to Paris for her 70th birthday. The best gift I've ever received was when I was well into my 20s, my boyfriend at the time got me the Asian American AMERICAN GIRL doll, Ivy Ling. All I wanted when I was younger was for there to be an Asian AMERICAN GIRL doll. I remember getting Josephina for Christmas when I was 12 and being so happy because she at least had black hair. When Ivy Ling came out in 2007, I was in my 20s. I opened the closet and she was sitting there, and I bawled for an hour.”
Olivia’s newest items for Kanojo Designs Etc. include her incredibly unique Patch Magic Jackets. A couple of her favorites are the Frida Says the Future is Female Jacket and the custom jacket she made for Kate Rigg, the lead singer of the band Slanty Eyed Mama — which even has a HAPA patch on it!
