“Art is exalted, and it is hard to obtain.” To break this perception, Nana, owner of the local original design house “Naka Shop”, is determined to create artsy items that everyone can afford, including exquisite patchwork handbags, collages, jewelries and more.
Having previously worked in the electrical apparatus industry, Nana has always had a special liking for textile handicrafts. Her career in fabric handicrafts began when, occasionally, a classic one-piece bag she made would be noticed and instantly loved by her friends, who would then order more from her.
She opened her small upstairs shop in Taipa Village in October last year, but the history of the brand “Naka Shop” can actually be traced back ten years.
“Naka Shop started a decade ago in 2009. Before the opening of this shop in Taipa Village last year, I had mostly been selling my creations on the Internet, at the Macau Craft Market and Hong Kung Night Market,” says Nana.
In the shop, all of Nana’s works are totally handmade, including the stitching on collage items. To create unique cloth products, she travels around the world to collect high quality fabrics and to connect with a lot of like-minded handicraft artists.
“For my own products, I use fabrics with various floral patterns made in Japan; I fly to Japan and buy them in Kyoto and Osaka. I have also attended diploma courses in collage art and embroidery classes in Taiwan,” Nana explains.
Aside from her original designs and handmade products, customers can also find crossover collections, which are co-designed by Singapore and Malaysian artisans. Therefore, the shop comprises of a wide range of unique and stylish cloth bags, accessories, blessing cards, patchwork puppets and felted wool dolls.
Patchwork and sewing workshops are also held from time to time at Naka Shop, for handicraft lovers to exchange experience and skills.
“We offer materials and teach our students to make their own handbags or other ornaments. There can be multiple techniques involved in a piece of work, such as collage and embroidery. It’s like painting in a way – using needles and threads as the paint brushes and colourful fabrics as the canvas,” smiles Nana.
