How did it all started?

Hi, my name is Maggie, and I am the founder of MTMT Studios. Many people asked what "MTMT" meant, it's actually the initials of my full name and I decided to make this as my brand name, both for my artist identity (MTMT DESIGNS) and my studio's branding, because it was something so unique and special that belonged to me. 

MTMT Studios was a passion project that came to life after I decided to quit my corporate job back in 2018. I am a sneaker artist who's been customising sneakers for customers around the world, almost 13 countries and 300+ pairs of shoes so far, and I've been doing this since my university days. I am also a current alumni of the Young Art Entrepreneurs Program (YAE) an art residency program initiated by the National Art Gallery.

When I was in the corporate world, I always longed for a creative space. Back when I was customising my sneakers, I work with a mahjong table from home, there wasn't much space or compartment for me to store my paints and tools, so most of the time all the materials were placed on the table and I was only left with a small corner of the table to paint my shoes. It was quite cramped, and as the table was also located right next to the living room, I am constantly listening to my mom's k-drama conversation from the telly. 

I felt very suppressed because I can't seem to create in peace, and most of the time space is my biggest reasons of not being able to function. Eventually I started to picture having an ideal place for me to create, and I was also thinking if I can teach people what I am passionate in and inspire them to be a creator at my studio as well, won't it be a super cool idea?

I suppose the law of attraction came in at the very right timing, I have lots of crazy ideas while I was back in Uni and along the years and I remembered a few pretty ideas vividly for some weird reasons. 

Particularly:

1. I woke up from a dream where I was tipsy while I was in it, I realise I was painting and I was painting like a pro. I felt unstoppable and there were no boundaries, restrictions and distractions! It was such a satisfying experience! And that's how I came out with our Tipsy Painting sessions, where I had my personal experience of being tipsy and started painting without being afraid of anything.
2. As a sneaker artist myself, I wanted to get more people to create art on shoes. Some times I wish I can have a shoe jam session, if people can do art jam with art canvases, why can't we do shoe jam with shoes? That's how I created my Signature Shoe Workshops.
3. I love all kinds of art and crafts, and I enjoy working with different artists and creators. I wanted to make my studio as a creative playground, where you'll get to learn what you want to learn with quality in a cosy and welcoming environment, and that's how I have weekend craft classes as part of the studio's weekly happenings as well!

At the moment, everything from the studio's operations, admin, marketing, PR, social media, photography etc and even teaching were done by myself, except for the weekend craft classes. I do plan to expand the team in the near future, but due to a very bootstrapped state like most startups, most of the tasks are done single-handedly by myself, also indicating that women entrepreneurs can do it too.