Multicultural artists, businesses offer Xmas in July

Tahni Osterman works on a painting at Itaewon Bugundang Historical Park. / Courtesy of Otahni Studio

By Chantal Terblanche

Christmas doesn't have to come only once a year. That's the premise behind the Xmas in July Market.

The market, being held online through Facebook, gives locally based immigrant business owners a chance to advertise something to sell.

Lindsey Walker, a Seoul resident who runs the "funky kitschy handmade accessories company" Yo-gi-Yo Acessories, describes this event as an "online market to help members of the immigrant community support each other during these times."

The COVID-19 pandemic has brought on difficult times for many foreign residents of Korea, and, as Walker also mentions, many of them "have been disproportionately affected by the COVID restrictions with many losing income or even their jobs. Others are suffering through being isolated and not being able to gather […] socially." It is for this reason that she decided to try to solve both problems by hosting an online market.

This is the first time that Walker is hosting this event, though she has helped with food drives through the Foreigner & Immigrant Virtual Community Center in Korea. She has been running these food drives and food assistance programs with the help of volunteers from the virtual community center to help those in the community adversely affected by the COVID-19 restrictions. Before Level 4 they had also been hosting mental health craft and coloring days.

"The major reason I started all three of these events is because of the lack of support for immigrants here in Korea especially during COVID," Walker said.

The online market is running on Facebook till the end of the month. Here are some of the participating vendors. For a full list, please visit the Facebook event page.

Yo-gi-Yo Accessories makes jewelry and accessories. Before the pandemic Walker used to sell at local markets but now sells online through social media. She donates a portion of all proceeds from participating in food drives or making specific items like #BlackLivesMatter and LGBTQIA jewelry.

An LGBTQ bracelet by Yo-gi-Yo Accessories / Courtesy of Yo-gi-Yo Accessories

Tahni Osterman from Otahni Studio has been actively building a body of artistic work here in South Korea for the past six years, after finishing up an art degree with a study abroad landscape painting class in Tuscany, Italy. It was then that Osterman fell in love with painting landscapes, finding inspiration daily in Korea's mountains, skies, architecture and how they all interact with each other.

Milk & Roses is a new cake topper business that opened in June. It is their second business, its big sister being Misty Rose Korea which customizes shirts, aprons, towels, cushions, masks and more. After a few months working on their first business, they found it was quite a struggle to find custom cake toppers with English, so they decided to make their own in house.

Tanya Kim of artworkshop_korea / Courtesy of artworkshop_korea

Artworkshop_korea provides community art workshops for adults and children of any level as well as art therapy. It also offers DIY paint-by-numbers kits inspired by Korean folk art and subscription art boxes.

Drunken Artist makes and sells custom art, oil and acrylic paintings and creative graphic art. Much of his work is inspired by Korean history and intended to teach it to the world. His paintings feature important figures to the development of Korea, from freedom fighters to prominent foreigners like Homer Hulbert and Korean War veterans.

Lisa's Lovely Letters creates calligraphy on cards, letters, pendants, key chains, wall art and wood.

Nourished Abroad is run by a certified nutritional therapy practitioner who teaches clients how to increase their awareness of the effects of the modern lifestyle on their bodies and wellbeing so that they can modify their nutrition, environment and habits in a way that increases overall wellbeing and vitality.

Ommawa was started to alleviate some of the guesswork of becoming a parent and provide essential postpartum products along with gifts for expectant parents.

Casa Bianca is a Mexican and Spanish restaurant based in Daegu. It is currently taking orders for frozen burrito boxes to be delivered in mid-August.

Justin Senegal is a self-published children's author living in Korea. He published his first children's book earlier this year called "Dame and Donna: Monster Mama." Dame is a boy with the blues whose sadness stems from life's harsh realities, and Donna is a colorful and wise bird who uses her understanding of the world to brighten up Dame's life. With their newfound friendship, Dame and Donna address real-life social issues through poignant yet heartwarming stories. The book can be found on Amazon.

Anyone wanting to take part in the Xmas in July Market can contact Lindsey Walker through Yo-gi-Yo Acessories. The market will run until July 31.

Chantal Terblanche, from South Africa, lives here with her dog, Samsung. She runs the blog ClumsyinKorea.com and the Korea Events group on Facebook.