Hyphen magazine - Asian American arts, culture, and politics

“There’s this misinterpretation that my life is perfect,” says Sally J. Shim, whose crafts blog, Shim & Sons, has garnered quite a following since she launched it six years ago after the birth of her second son. With an array of craft projects and scenes from the designer’s family life, Shim & Sons presents Shim’s life so beautifully that while it may not be perfect, it at least appears adorned with a colorful paper garland. 

Shim has always been good with her hands, having grown up with Korean parents who enjoyed carpentry and sewing, but her own crafting boom coincided with becoming a parent and moving to Portland, OR, eight years ago. “Crafting has always been cathartic for me,” she says. On her visits to the Uwajimaya Shopping Center in Beaverton, she browsed the Japanese sewing books, which influenced her own minimalistic aesthetic. It’s hard not to be influenced by Japanese designs,” she says. “I like the simplicity. It was just very different from the things I had seen on Martha Stewart.”

This is a preview of Issue 24: The Survival Issue (Winter 2011). To read the full story, subscribe to Hyphen or pick up a copy at a newsstand near you.