What Would You Be...?
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By Youngjoo Ahn ©2012
Fifteen-year-old Youngjoo Ahn is a creative individual who enjoys making people smile. If not for financial restraint, she would launch a local boutique that sold a variety of creative handmade gifts. This boutique would provide ready-to-go gifts but also offer studio space and supplies for people to create gifts.
Ahn’s boutique would actually give Lamorindians the opportunity to innovate with their hands.
“I would be more interested in making handmade things if there was a place that already had supplies and ideas ready,” said sophomore Yurika Kazama. Kazama said that she would like to make gifts but doesn’t have the time to make them from scratch.
This idea came to Ahn on her friend’s 15th birthday. With an old honey jar, 60 pinky-sized post-it notes, a Seventeen magazine, and a felt pen, she made an irreplaceable lifelong treasure. Her friend now has a jar decorated with fun magazine clippings that contains more than 52 weeks’ worth of quotes, advice, and drawings to brighten up any rainy day.
Ever since then, Ahn has been making creative gifts for all her friends’ birthdays. She has branched out from crafts to personalized short stories and comic strips that feature both Ahn’s love for writing and doodling.
Ahn takes time and effort to create these gifts because her friends’ satisfaction makes her happy. Seeing that jar on her friend’s desk a year later brings her pride and joy.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the time or energy required for making handmade gifts. Because there are so many easier alternatives, homemade gifts are going extinct. Many people opt for the easy way out and simply buy a gift card.
“Buying gift cards are a lot easier than making them. It’s easy for me and I know that they’ll like it,” said junior Drew Dowling.
Ahn’s boutique would encourage customers to make handmade goods. People think that handmade gifts are tedious and useless. However, handmade gifts can be personalized with inside jokes and memories that no store bought item could contain.
“It’s the thought that counts,” said junior Aymin Butt. She still treasures the simple cards that her friends made her two years ago.
"Receiving a handmade gift makes you feel good. It shows that a person cares enough to actually make you something,” said sophomore Izzy Fasheh. “I showcase my baking talent whenever a friend’s birthday rolls around because it’s the least I could do on their special day.”
Opening a small local place that allows you to make or buy handmade gifts would be beneficial for everyone in the Lamorinda community. A handmade gift boutique would emphasize the rewarding simplicity of making your own gifts, and it allows the super busy people to buy unique gifts in a hurry.
Making a gift is as easy as getting some household objects and showing how much you care. Nevertheless, if out of time or inspiration, this boutique is a win-win situation.
Youngjoo Ahn is a sophomore at Miramonte High School. In her spare time she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, skiing, and taking pictures with her Polaroid camera.
Ahn’s boutique would actually give Lamorindians the opportunity to innovate with their hands.
“I would be more interested in making handmade things if there was a place that already had supplies and ideas ready,” said sophomore Yurika Kazama. Kazama said that she would like to make gifts but doesn’t have the time to make them from scratch.
This idea came to Ahn on her friend’s 15th birthday. With an old honey jar, 60 pinky-sized post-it notes, a Seventeen magazine, and a felt pen, she made an irreplaceable lifelong treasure. Her friend now has a jar decorated with fun magazine clippings that contains more than 52 weeks’ worth of quotes, advice, and drawings to brighten up any rainy day.
Ever since then, Ahn has been making creative gifts for all her friends’ birthdays. She has branched out from crafts to personalized short stories and comic strips that feature both Ahn’s love for writing and doodling.
Ahn takes time and effort to create these gifts because her friends’ satisfaction makes her happy. Seeing that jar on her friend’s desk a year later brings her pride and joy.
Unfortunately, not everyone has the time or energy required for making handmade gifts. Because there are so many easier alternatives, homemade gifts are going extinct. Many people opt for the easy way out and simply buy a gift card.
“Buying gift cards are a lot easier than making them. It’s easy for me and I know that they’ll like it,” said junior Drew Dowling.
Ahn’s boutique would encourage customers to make handmade goods. People think that handmade gifts are tedious and useless. However, handmade gifts can be personalized with inside jokes and memories that no store bought item could contain.
“It’s the thought that counts,” said junior Aymin Butt. She still treasures the simple cards that her friends made her two years ago.
"Receiving a handmade gift makes you feel good. It shows that a person cares enough to actually make you something,” said sophomore Izzy Fasheh. “I showcase my baking talent whenever a friend’s birthday rolls around because it’s the least I could do on their special day.”
Opening a small local place that allows you to make or buy handmade gifts would be beneficial for everyone in the Lamorinda community. A handmade gift boutique would emphasize the rewarding simplicity of making your own gifts, and it allows the super busy people to buy unique gifts in a hurry.
Making a gift is as easy as getting some household objects and showing how much you care. Nevertheless, if out of time or inspiration, this boutique is a win-win situation.
Youngjoo Ahn is a sophomore at Miramonte High School. In her spare time she enjoys experimenting in the kitchen, skiing, and taking pictures with her Polaroid camera.
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