Experience The Sada Abe Experience!

So as I have been getting people to contribute to these wonderful giveaways, I have also been collecting information from them for your reading enjoyment! Just a little "About Me" type of dealio. Personally, I like to read about the people I am ordering handmade goods from. So I thought you might like it to. Each month a new Featured Seller will be posted.

This months Featured Seller is...

The Sada Abe Experience

To be honest, I don’t expect much from the person answering the questions... just because I absolutely hate to. But I was so happy with these answers! I hope you enjoy learning more about The Sada Abe Experience and how it came to be!

Leece: How did you choose the name of your brand?

TSAE: Since "Cowboy's Sweetheart", "Honky Tonk Angel", and "Fujiyama Mama" were already taken, I had to get creative and went with "The Sada Abe Experience". Skipping the history of who Sada Abe was (I think I'll euphemistically call her a "folk hero" of sorts), I wanted something that said "swingin' good time" and "goofy camp"... You know, something fun that makes you picture go-go dancers!

Leece: How do you choose your flavors?

TSAE: Go-go dancers aside, I am very tradition oriented, especially when it comes to food. Nowadays, you can find mochi with chocolate, peanut butter, or ice cream inside, and in all kinds of fabulous flavors. But personally, I like the elegance of the old Japanese classics, and that's why I sell mochi based on a recipe my grandmother used. There's just a particular simplistic charm to the gold of the kinako (roasted soy bean flour) against the stark green of the mochi. And why green mochi? Again, just tradition, I suppose!

Leece: What inspired you to open up this type shop?

TSAE: In the vein of Mary Lou Williams and Edith Massey's thrift stores, I wanted a spunky little spot on the internet that sells EVERYTHING! Of course, there's the mochi, but I started with knit goods and expanded to hand embroidery, t-shirts, and beyond. I remember in the beginning reading various Etsy blogs that deemed that sort of eclectic thinking absolutely toxic in terms of "alienating" your clientele, but I've never been a fan of just sticking to one strict aesthetic, ha. And I probably never would've gotten the "alienation" idea if they didn't explicitly say not to do it.

Leece: What is the number 1 item on your personal wishlist and why?

TSAE: A pie bird! I usually bake cream, custard, or shoofly-sorta cake pies to where I totally don't need it, but they're just so cute.



Leece: If you could do one thing for or with anyone in the world, past or present, who would it be and why?

TSAE: ...Stop Patsy from getting on that plane in 1963! Or host some kind of daily, five hour musical-political-food symposium with Linda Ronstadt, because the current programming on Lifetime TV just isn't cutting it.

Leece: What is something strange/unique about you or your shop?

TSAE: I'd say the whole enchilada I'm running here is one big, strange quirk. And that's exactly the way I wanted it to be, like some kind of wonderful culinary/craft racket Amy Sedaris would be running!

Click HERE to check out The Sada Abe Experience’s Shop!