“Trying every single craft in the world,” Zoey Tian’s Instagram bio reads.
So far, Tian has tackled mainly crocheting and weaving, but it’s only her freshman year.
“I basically try every single thing,” Tian said.
During the summer going into seventh grade, Tian participated in the Children’s Business Fair (CBF), organized by Central senior Athena Chen.
Tian won the Entrepreneurial Energy Award in both seventh grade and freshman year; the award is granted to the fair judges’ favorite stand.
“[Zoey participated in CBF] all three years,” Chen said. “She’s one of the OGs.”
The first of the three years Tian competed in was seventh grade.
The first products Tian made were Harry Potter wands made from painted-over and hot glued wooden dowel rods.
The motivation to begin crocheting came when Tian saw a patchwork cardigan made by Harry Styles.
“I bought yarn, searched up tutorials on YouTube and got started,” Tian said.
Rather than focusing her stand around more typical creations, Tian’s mom posed the idea of a sustainable product as her next venture.
“I saw people making yarn out of plastic and crocheting with them,” Tian said.
This sparked the idea for a potential business.
The following business fair marked the creation of Fantastic Plastic; the flagship products were items made with recycled material.
“You see [kids at the business fair] making dog treats or bracelets,” Chen said. “But [her ideas] demonstrate another level of thinking.”
Tian made hand-crocheted bags from recycled plastic.
“It’s something that could actually maybe be a business idea,” Chen said. “Which is a bigger thing that most other participants didn’t even consider.”
Tian finds it unlikely she will have another project, especially not one weaving onto another pair of sneakers.
“Definitely not [another pair of shoes], those took me way too long,” Tian said.
In spite of the strenuous process, Tian finished the shoes much to the appreciation of her followers. Some comments left on her post of the shoes read “SO PRETTY [Zoey]” and “THEY LOOK SO GOOD.”
“[Zoey] is probably one of the most creative people I’ve seen,” Chen said. “Who would think to sew on their shoes? She did. It’s not really something that you learn how to do. It’s more self taught.”
