Get Onborad the Arts-and-Crafts Movement with Squish-n-Chips

With much of the world on lockdown and with extra time on our hands, hobbies like crocheting, embroidering, and baking are experiencing a surge in popularity. And for good reason.

Designer and master-crafter Orawee Choedamphai wants to encourage you to make something with your own hands. “I think exploring things in three dimension makes our brains work differently,” she reflected once in an interview with the Etsy blog. “It gives us freedom to experiment and leaves room for trial and error.”

The owner of craft supply Etsy shop Squish-n-Chips, Choedamphai enjoys experimenting with different materials, colors, and textures, combining different techniques such as watercolor, paper folding, and collage.

“My workspace is always full of clutter, and I prefer it that way,” she admits. “When I’m working on a project, it’s important for me to be surrounded by objects of different textures, colors, sizes, and forms. I don’t plan—I just like to put things together and see how they go, so being able to see and touch different materials is key. I often get much better results when I work with my hands as I’m coming up with an idea, and I hope my supplies inspire my customers in that same way.”

Her shop offers a range of materials meant to tickle your fancy—anything from animal pop-up cards to paper flowers and kraft envelopes. Her carefully selected supplies will introduce you to card making, scrapbooking, dollhouse making, as well as DIY party supplies.

“Some make miniature gardens out of the flowers, and I also have tiny pots, so they’ll do a flower arrangement, or maybe something for a dollhouse,” she relayed. “Some use the flowers to make hair accessories. And for weddings, they might use my paper for cards and some of the bigger flowers for centerpieces. I really love when customers send me photos of what they’ve made. They don’t do it enough!”

Follow her on Instagram for some arts-and-crafts inspiration: