30 for 30

In 2025, the year I turned 30, I decided to create 30 pieces to mark my entrance into a new decade. I set out to craft 30 works that encapsulate themes I have developed over the years, expressed through distinct designs that are completely original to my brand. The aim was to reflect growth, both in my design language and in my craftsmanship.

The beginning of my brand journey was shaped by trial and error. After years of learning, I reached a point where I had to fundamentally change my approach.

When I started building Enny Oh!, my strategy was simple. Delegate so I could scale. I believed the best way forward was to trust skilled hands to help bring my ideas to life. But very early on, I learned that trust is a currency not everyone can afford to honour.

I struggled to find people who were trustworthy, not only in execution and delivery, but in fully understanding what it means to work on a work for hire basis when handling ideas that are deeply personal to me. Even when intentions were good, the handwork often fell short. It did not consistently reflect the level of immaculate craftsmanship that forms the backbone of my brand.

In 2024, after a dispute with a customer over an order I had delegated, I had to confront a hard truth. Putting the Enny Oh! label on anything that fell below the standard I would deliver with my own two hands was an injustice to my customers, to my brand, and to myself.

I needed my pieces to reflect my standpoint, not only in concept, but down to the very last stitch.

As someone who has always leaned toward precision and detail, sometimes to an obsessive degree, I realised I had been lowering my standards just to keep things moving. Delegating to the wrong hands was not scaling. It was sabotaging the very goals I was trying to reach.

I sat with the dilemma. Scale fast with compromised work, or do it myself, slowly and properly.

I chose the latter.

I picked up my hook and began doing the majority of the work myself. I discovered that I genuinely enjoyed the process. My pieces took longer than the average crocheter to complete, but the results were deeply rewarding. The tension, the stitching, the shaping, the details, everything finally aligned with the vision I carried in my mind.

The benefits were undeniable.

• Crafting my own first prototypes was empowering

• It brought clarity to my direction

• It eliminated the chaos of misinterpretation

• Most importantly, it ensured that no one could ever lay claim to the blueprint of a concept I conceived

With prototypes in my own hands, I could finally identify the very few artisans whose handwork truly matched the standard I had set.

Before that, I often overlooked flaws in other people’s work just to manage production and keep things moving. I convinced myself some issues were simply artistic differences. But deep down, I knew the truth. They were cracks in my foundation.

Ironically, I never planned to be a crafter. I wanted to be a designer and a director. But crafting became necessary. It was the only way to ensure the soul of the brand remained intact.

The real challenge became balancing slow, detailed crafting, sampling new designs, and fulfilling orders. There simply was not enough time in a day to do everything.

Then, around March 2025, something shifted.

Ghibli style AI animations began trending. Out of curiosity, I converted some of my brand images into animated versions. What started as a fun experiment evolved into a major breakthrough in my process. Digital illustration.

Suddenly, I could express my ideas clearly without needing to physically sample every single concept. It lifted the immense pressure that had been sitting on my shoulders for years. It allowed me to create, explore, and refine at the speed of thought, without compromising craftsmanship.

This 30 for 30 collection is the result of that journey. The struggle, the lessons, the recalibration, and the quiet evolution of a brand learning how to protect its essence.

Every piece represents not only creativity, but a fight to maintain integrity in a world that constantly pressures you to compromise.

This is the season I chose craft before clout, quality before speed, and my own hands before anyone else’s.