Do It Yourself （DIY）是近期很多媽媽的興趣之一，也是與小朋友親子時間一齊做做看的好管道！而這一次的專方比較特別的是一位手工皮革作品設計師，Elin，也是一個媽媽。這位媽媽做出了很多不同的
也看看小記者的感想：
Evelyn Sun
Today, we had lots of fun with Elin, the designer and founder of YEM. Her handmade leather design styles were very cool. Today Phoebe and I imprinted shapes on leather strips with a few tools. It was very exciting and fun.
Elin creates her own bags, wallets, and other goods. She says that her things all have a purpose to them, and aren’t just there for the look. For example, she has a key chain that attaches to the handle of a purse to your keys, so you won’t have to go digging around for your keys and can just take it out. She hand punches the designs on her handbags with tools on leather for her goods. The seams on her purse are tightly hand-sewn with needle and wax thread.
YEM, known as Young Entrepreneur’s marketplace, was created by Elin for kids to present and profit from their own creations. Kids made their own products by hand. Elin hoped that kids would experience from making their own products and selling them.
Phoebe ho
Hi, my name is Phoebe Ho from the Lajaja Kids, a junior journalist. We have recently gone to the Chijin Design workshop. The owner of the workshop, Elin, told us about her YEM marketplace, how to make shapes on leather, and how she makes her bags. The experience there made me learn a lot about how hard making professional leather goods.
To start off, we are going to be learning how Elin makes designs on her bags, bracelets, key chains, etc. She first taught us how to use a hammer properly and safely. After we tried a few times, we finally got the movement of how to use a hammer. Elin laid out some shape stamps that had holes onto the table. We chose a few different shapes. After we had chosen our desired shapes, we were given a piece of leather that was like a bracelet without hooks. We had to hit hard with the hammer in order to get our shapes on the piece of leather. We ended up with something that looked sort of like a bunch of shapes carved onto a bracelet without hooks. Making those wonderful shapes had gotten me thinking of making hundreds of them on bags.
After we had made the shapes, we found ourselves listening to the YEM marketplace for kids. Elin told us that about three or two times a year they hold an event called the YEM marketplace. It stands for the Young Entrepreneurs Marketplace. It is a event where kids of all ages that come up with a homemade ( which means at least 90% of the homemade thing is made by the child) idea and sell it at the YEM event. They may keep the money for other things. However, the child cannot get a bottle of water and then add food coloring to it and name it something like magical potion. Whenever the event happens, lots of kids join. It starts at 8:00 and the first few people who come, will be able to sell their goods first before the others that come later. This YEM event has made me want to go next time.
To end this topic, Elin makes bags of her own. She makes them steady so they won’t fall and she comes up with inventions like the key finder.
It helps people find keys in their messy bags. She makes her bags so that they won’t fall apart. Elin wants every woman to be happy, so she takes the time to sew the pieces of leather together. She doesn’t use a machine to get everything done quicker. Elin risks her hand to work hard and sometimes, most times, get injuries. Her favorite design is a flower and she has different ways to make a unique one for all of her leather goods. For example, to make a nice far apart petals, she uses raindrops and make the shape form onto her bag, bracelet, key finder, etc. Obviously, making leather goods aren’t as easy as they sound.
I never thought making things out of leather can be dangerous. I absolutely learned so much from this experience.
More info about Chijen Design and YEM:
