Q&A with Yeunglove

HEY! LET’S GET TO KNOW YOU A LITTLE BETTER. INTRODUCE YOURSELF AND TELL US MORE ABOUT YOU AS AN ARTIST

Hey friend! Love a little get-to-know-me, spoken like a true Leo. I’m Janine Yeung, a Chinese-Canadian creative with a love for all things cute.

I just knew I was meant for a creative career, whether that was pursuing the design industry, or doing my own thing. Luckily I do both! I am a full-time designer working for a Toronto-based interior design practice. We have big aspirations and do some genuinely amazing work internationally and have standout projects here in Canada.

Yeunglove was born out of a hobby and passion for illustrating custom birthday cards for my friends and coworkers. I wanted to bring a bit of joy and amp up the typical card by translating their likeness into a character and drew icons that represented who that person was more genuinely. I went the extra mile—added a personal touch. Make ‘em feel special, ‘cause they are.

I’ve always had an obsession with collecting stickers and stationary goods as a young girl, and designing products and stickers as an adult really does something to my soul that satisfies my inner child. I’m truly embracing that I like to create, design and have cute shit! I will do it until I’m old and grey 💫

If you could describe your collection in 3 words what would they be?
Cute AF (technically that's 3 words 😛), fun, and joyous

What does a day in the life look like for you?
Although I’m not a full-time artist, I am a full-time creative. On weekdays I wake up and listen to a podcast or my favourite music (usually R&B) and get ready for the workday. At the design studio the day-to-day constantly shifts and is never the same, and that keeps things interesting.

This past year has been life-changing for me in many ways. I’ve completely reinvented my lifestyle in a way that I hope only improves with time, by nourishing my mind, body and soul. Self-love and care at the forefront of my priorities. I cook all the time, exercise regularly and practice gratitude every night through journaling. A bath before bed when the mood strikes. I’m trying my best and that’s what matters, even if I’m only at the beginning of my self-love journey 💖

I’m all about a chill weekend and like to change the pace. Slow and low-stress. Sleep in. Catch up on my yeunglove goodness, shop, cook, clean, lift weights, sing, dance and just relax! Having the discipline to rest is also super important and so necessary!

What’s a fun fact about you that you think would surprise people?
For some reason I have always pictured myself on a stage even though this is not something I am known for or regularly do. She's a shy birdie ☺️ Secretly, I want to be a standup comedian but have not done anything remotely close to that to justify it. The idea of it scares me, but in a good way!

What’s your favourite design from the collection and why?My favourites have to be the Icon & Fruit Sticker cases. The ‘too-cool-for-school’ attitude of the Icon case illustrations has me obsessed. Love a bit of sass. The colourful arrangement and ease of the Fruit Sticker case makes this one an obvious pick for me.

What’s on your bucket list?
I would love to utilise my interior design skillset to design my own residence. For yeunglove, an absolute dream would be to design and have my own little shop but that’s currently just living in my land of imaginations. I’d love to have a physical wonderland of my work and illustrations, I think that would be magical. I also look forward to collaborating with more creatives and brands!

A must is to travel more—particularly to Italy, Thailand, Korea, Iceland, explore more of Asia and revisit Japan (the country of cuteness).

What’s been your favourite part of working with us?
That it was super seamless! I pride both myself and the Skinnydip team for making this super easy. So cool to see my graphics applied this way, and translated into physical cases. I love seeing my cases on the online shop.

What’s the best piece of advice you’ve ever been given?
I collect advice and inspiration from so many sources like I collect stickers, so here are some of my favourites, paraphrased: Be yourself. No one can take away what’s meant for you.

What’s yours will find you, babes—and that can apply to anything—your relationships, love, career, and your purpose. Maybe not your keys though 🙃
Don’t perish with your gifts still inside you. You might not want to share it with the world and that’s okay! More importantly it's about making it known to yourself.

Don’t talk yourself out of it or be afraid to try that thing you think you’d like! Or *gasp* could possibly be good at?! (Guess it’s time to start writing my standup set?) Yeunglove grew from this very sentiment. I launched it despite thinking I wasn't ready. The growth happens while you're doing it, and it builds.

Failure is an event, not a person. Failure is just feedback. AKA don’t be so hard on yourself. Take it as a lesson and grow from it. Go through it, to grow through it. Celebrate your mistakes, you'll be grateful for them eventually. I'm learning this too ✌️

Love yourself. Yes, it can be a process but don’t ever stop ❤️‍🔥

Tell us a bit about how the design process worked? What was key for you with regards to the final designs?
I passed off my favourite illustrations to the Skinnydip team and the lovely Lucy arranged the layouts on the cases to best represent the selected designs. Special thanks to Lucy for also nominating me as a collaborative artist! I received the physical samples and after a few adjustments, we finalized the cases.

For me, a key component was that the yeunglove identity was evident in all the cases. They all look cute AF so I would say mission accomplished! I love that in some of the designs, it looks as though you artfully and intentionally decorated a blank case using my stickers and it has that same effortless look. A nice cohesion amongst the different designs, and the combination of the phone case base material with the camera ring colourway was really important to create an adorable collection.

And lastly, and very importantly. What’s your dream meal?
I love potatoes, so I would love a jumbo order of french fries! Shoestring, straight, curly, lattice, wedge... I don't discriminate 🥔✨ A nice selection of torched salmon sushi with some yam tempura and I'm yours 💛 On a warm day, a cold glass of homemade iced tea lemonade will keep me smiling.

Thanks so much for reading, friends! ✌️ 

My socials are @yeung.love on Instagram and my website is https://yeung.love/shop