We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Tracey Ko. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Tracey below.

Tracey, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. When did you first know you wanted to pursue a creative/artistic path professionally?

Great Question! In retrospect, I have always loved to create, especially creating things with my hands. I think part of enthusiasm for creativity might be hereditary and part of it is my up bringing. And I cannot talk about any of these without telling you about my parents’ story.

My parents grew up in a small town in southern China during cultural revolution. Life was not easy at the time for a lot of people, even food was scarce. My mom used to sew clothes to make ends meet (I believe that’s where my sewing genes come from). They met each other around mid 70s while working at the same medical clinic, fell in love (I will save their love story for another day), and decided to move to Hong Kong for a better future. They basically fled to Hong Kong with almost nothing. And I’m very proud of what they have achieved in their life.

In short, I was born in Hong Kong into this financially poor but very loving family. Living in Hong Kong, one of the most expensive real estate market in the world, family of 5 (like my family) sharing a 450 sqft apartment with two tiny bedrooms and one bathroom is very common. Because of the space constraints, most of the furniture need to be custom made. Often times, when we needed something, the first thought that came to mind was not “where to buy it”, it was “how to make it”. My father made a lot of our furniture himself, with help from his carpenter friend. I would always be around observing them build from scratch and playing with hammer and wooden scraps close by. Yes, I played with building materials and tools more often than dolls or video games as a kid. I always find the creative process of making something from raw materials to a finished product really mesmerizing.

I was a decent student academically, but it was always classes like art, photography, and design where I excelled and enjoyed the most. Upon moving to U.S., embarrassingly, I spent 6.5 years to finish my Bachelor’s degree. One of the reasons was language. English is my second language and learning in a second language is difficult. Also, I was really shy and reluctant to speak with people in English initially, thus the slow learning curve. The other reason was I switched majors multiple times, from Graphic Design to Architecture to Apparel Merchandising, and back to Graphic Design, because I felt like none of these majors fully fulfilled what I wanted to do. But I was very sure I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally. And in the end, I settled on a Bachelor with major in Design Studies and minor in Photography.

I wish I could pin point a moment when I first know I wanted to pursue a creative path professionally, but for most of my life, it just felt the right path for me.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

My name is Tracey Ko. I’m originally from Hong Kong, now live and work in San Francisco Bay Area. I’m an Artist, Maker, Traveler, Small Business Owner, Wife, Daughter, Sister, and a cat Mom. I have a small online business specialized in high quality handmade bags, wall decors, and other small goods. Most materials are sourced domestically. Our vegetable-tanned leather is from Pennsylvania, weather-resistant waxed canvas is from New Jersey, and most of the bag making hardware is from Massachusetts. All of our products are proudly handmade in our San Francisco Bay studio. We design it, source it, make it, and ship it.

The idea of starting my current handmade business came in 2014, when I took a two month long trip traveling around the world (San Francisco -> Jordan -> India -> Thailand -> Cambodia -> Vietnam -> Japan -> back to San Francisco). Since I knew I would be exposed to different landscape and weather (dry desert weather in Jordan and India, humid weather in Southeast Asia, and rainy winter weather in Japan), I wanted a weather-resistant crossbody bag that is light weight, roomy, but not too bulky. With a designer/maker spirit at heart and the “not where to buy but how to make” upbringing, I decided to make my own bag, which became my first product of my line (Passage One) and I named this bag : Round-the-World. Yes! My product line is travel inspired. Most of my bags are named after cities of the world. Some are places I have been to and love, like the Bali Bag, which is where I went for my honeymoon. Others are places on my bucket list, like the Bahamas Bag.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most rewarding aspect of being a creative is a personal one. It is the immense internal joy, fulfillment and freedom I found in the creative process. Especially when creating a tangible object from raw materials to a finished product that I can share with someone. It’s almost like I’m transferring my energy to another person. It’s simple yet powerful. I hope people can feel my passion for travel and handmade and hopefully inspire them to start any creative project or adventure that they have in mind. 
And when someone likes it enough to buy my creations, that’s the cherry on top.

Also I recently discovered studies that show working with hands provides a hand-mind feedback loop. These manual hand activities can stimulate the brain to release endorphins and serotonin (pleasure chemicals) and reduce cortisol (stress hormone). No wonder I’m always the happiest when I work with my hands.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

It was 2020, the pandemic had altered many people’s life including mine.

When the pandemic hit, all my in-person pop ups were cancelled, my business basically plummeted because no one needs a new handbag when they are just staying home. Other than that, shortage of medical mask was all over the news, and lots of hospitals and clinics were looking for cloth mask donations. I thought to myself, “I have time, I can sew, maybe I can help.” I made it as my mission of the year to play my part to help “flatten the curve”. I spent the next few days to experiment different fabrics and sewing patterns to come up with the best fitting masks with removable nose wire slot. I sewed hours and hours and donated hundreds of cloth masks to local hospitals. Followers on my social media platform saw those cloth masks that I donated and started asking if I would offer it to the general public because they wanted to buy for themselves as they struggled to find quality cloth mask that fits them. After numerous requests, I started to sell them on my website. My inadvertent pivot had saved my business and helped others. It was a win-win.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.passageone.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/passage_one/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/shopPassageOne/