Stepping inside, you feel the AC breeze past you and are hit with a rush of dopamine. Cute, colorful, and artistic displays of all kinds of adorable merchandise. Your wallet is screaming in pain but your heart yearns for the tiny cat charm with a hat on top. After all, you think, your money goes to local businesses and artists. Your wallet is a worthy sacrifice.
On Sept. 5, over 80 vendors gathered at NTX for KoroKoroMart Artist Alley, a small art fair with a variety of art vendors and businesses. In addition to the artist alley, KoroKoroMart also had a secondhand market, with clothes, accessories, trinkets, collectibles and more.
Although KoroKoroMart did not have a theme, the event still had plenty of activities. Attendees were encouraged to come in cosplay and artists sold a range of items from cute glittery animal themed accessories to handcrafted mystical forest figures.
“I always liked doing art,” artist Gigi Romero from Gigidoodles said. “I always enjoyed going to tables [for art events] and I wanted to be a part of these events as well.”
Gigi said that events like KoroKoroMart really involve the local community.
“It’s always nice when smaller artists get together and do stuff because not anyone can afford to travel [to bigger conventions],” Romero said.
Aly from gyeobal said that smaller artist alleys allow artists to branch out and try new things without being worried about selling themed merchandise.
“For example, if you go to an anime convention, you’re kind of expecting to sell anime stuff,” Aly said. “Here, there’s a little bit of everything for everyone.”
The event also had a coffee and matcha cafe booth set up, so visitors and artists could both take a break and have a drink. Artists frequented the area while walking around on their breaks to interact with other artists and vendors.
Artists Cassie and Quinn from blushkinks said that KoroKoroMart and similar events can bring in different kinds of communities. Additionally, they said, local artist alleys can bring smaller artists equal opportunity to cater for the art space.
“[We] also liked that this [event] was application based, so it wasn’t required to be an anime vendor,” Quinn said. “It opened an opportunity for us. I feel like opening the space for other people is really important too.”
Along with freebies handed out to eventgoers who RSVP’ed, KoroKoroMart collaborated with multiple artists for stamp rallies. People could collect stamps by buying merchandise from different artists and obtain a prize, like a cute art print.
“I like how it’s super local, and it’s easier to really connect with them as well,” attendee Maria said.
Ethan and Mary, who were also visiting the market, said they loved how people could walk in and find their own niches and interests in artist alleys without a theme. Ethan also mentioned how he experienced AI-generated art booths at many larger conventions.
“With artist alleys, [art] is more handmade,” Ethan said. “I think it’s better to support the humans who make the art.”
KoroKoroMart is also planning an artist alley for an anime holiday market this December. For patrons of the (cute) arts, artist alleys are a great experience that strains one’s wallet and creates connections with the local community.