I am in Indianapolis. It just happened. I was talking with Tokuko, my partner in business, whether or not I should come – people keep asking us whether we would be there at TNNA. Suddenly, can’t remember which of us said it, but we said “yes, we should go.” (Tokuko ended up having a family engagement and I came on my own.) That was a month ago.
We started asking around, and our dear friend Olga introduced us to people. Thanks to her, and thanks to Deep South Fibers, I was able to get in at the very short notice.
This is my first trip to Indianapolis. The area around the Convention Center is really not the place to be – there are nothing but hotels and not-so-good restaurants around. But it seems like a nice city, if you know where to go. The restaurant we tried last night was suuuuper good – it was in the different neighborhood.
インディアナポリスに来ています。英語ではスナップジャッジメントと言いますが、トクコさんと話しているうちに、どちらかが突然「よし、行こう！」と言い出しました。1ヶ月ほど前。いつも色々な人にTNNAに来ないの？と言われ続け、きっと来年ね、と毎年言い続けていたもの。最終的にはトクコさんは家族イベントがあり、私が１人でやってきました。次回は２人できっと。
行くとなったら色々な人にコンタクトをし、親しい友人でもあるオルガに紹介してもらった関係で、バッジを融通してもらいました。
インディアナポリスは初めて。コンベンションセンターの周りは本当に何にもなくて、ホテルのスタバも夕方なのに閉まっちゃうしご飯にも困るくらいなのですが、行く場所さえ知っていればとても素敵なビンテージな街っぽいです。昨日行ったレストランもめちゃくちゃ美味しかった。アメリカの中西部であのクオリティとはビックリ。
Talking about the city, I did make it to the Museum of Art on the first day. In a Landscape Architecture studio class I had taken back when I was in UC Davis, we designed a site around the museum. I studied about the museum – their collections, history, etc. – so I felt I really had to pay a visit. It turned out to be one of the nicest museum I ever been to, in terms of gardens and the surrounding landscape. Also, the ongoing exhibit by Julianne Swartz was amazingly good.
The river/canal in the below picture is between the museum and its nature park. Very beautiful.
最初の日は、時間を見つけて美術館に言ってきました。留学中にランドスケープデザインの授業で敷地を設計した場所。実際行ってみたらとっても庭が美しい美術館で、本当に驚きました。至る所花盛り、新緑が綺麗で、ワクワクしました。展示中の現代アーティストJulianne Swartz展もとても良かった。
So, TNNA. I am having a phenomenal time these past few days. Meeting with people from different yarn brands has been such a great learning process for me. Touching various yarns, learning about their fibers and stories has taught me a lot. Also, the amount of support I received from yarn shop owners has been far greater than I had expected. I realized that we are still very up-and-coming and not many people know about us!
I had spoken with Amy, the owner of Madelinetosh as well. She has introduced me to many people and even placed our printed copy at the center of their booth – I was so touched. People touched it, flipped through it, and came to talk to me to order copies. Wow.
さてTNNA。この数日間、本当に素晴らしい時間を過ごしています。糸メーカーの方々とお話をして沢山のことを学びました。実際に触って糸についても勉強できたし、amirisuのデザイナーさん達をサポートしたいというお話も沢山頂きました。これからは殆どの糸をデザイナーさんに無料で提供できると思います。やった！
加えて、買い付けに来ている糸屋さんのオーナーの方々からも沢山のフィードバックを頂きました。これから正式に全米でamirisuを流通してもらえそうです。日本には毛糸屋さんが少ないので、これは私達にとって大きな出来事です。
Madelinetoshのブースの中央に、な、なんとamirisuが。
Meeting with many talented designers is another benefit of participating in this kind of events. In the evening, a lot of people hanged out at the hotel lobby. They are a part of the young taste makers in the knitting world. It is fun to watch them knitting and chatting and gossiping :)
One more day, and I will return to Japan. I came up with lots of new ideas for our business as well – it is just a matter of execution and there are only two of us. We have to work hard. I got up at 3:30 AM this morning and could not go back to sleep thinking about all the things we’ve got to do before this fall…. wish us luck!
夜はホテルのラウンジでデザイナーさん方の集まりに合流。有名なブロガーやマーケターの人たちもいて、編んでいるものを見たり話している内容に興味深く耳を傾けました。もちろん、ゴシップも（笑)。
あと1日で帰ります。色々と新しいビジネスアイデアも思いついて、どうやって２人でこなしていこうかと思いを巡らせると眠れなくなり、超朝早くに起きてしまいました。頑張ります！
ではまたね！
Sparkles*United 