Designing the Little Things: Opportunities in the Trinket Market

From key chains, stamps, postcards, to stickers—collections of knick-knacks or trinkets are rapidly gaining popularity, especially with young audiences who are starting to find sentimental value in “small” items and personalizing their everyday things. This phenomenon not only gives rise to new trends, but also creates a market for merchandise and opportunities for designers or illustrators to participate. The trend of collecting knick-knacks in Indonesia has been around for a long time, as evidenced by the large number of antique prints that we can find on the market today. However, it is only in the last few years that the knick-knack market has become as popular again. Almost every weekend in Jakarta or other big cities, we can find art markets that sell various forms of trinkets. Interestingly, the participation of designers and illustrators is something that trinkets lovers have been anticipating because they present "small" products with distinctive designs and illustrations as well as everyday touches that are close to the hearts of many.

At the end of May 2024, approximately 80000 people visited SEMASA Piknik, an art market held at Lapangan Banteng, Central Jakarta. Of their many tenants, most are designers and illustrators who sell knick-knacks they have designed in various forms. Liunic on Things by Liunic, Alvinxki, Sarkodit, Michelle Sherrina, and Nadya Noor are some of the design and visual arts actors who set up stalls at the event. The different artistic styles and treatments from these illustrators make each trinket even more interesting to collect. Consumers will collect a number of bric-a-brac with designs that align with their personalization or current trends. Looking at smaller markets, on May 25-26, a knick-knack buying and selling event called Trinket Market was held at LEMONDISCOFISH, South Jakarta. At this independently founded collective initiative event, many young people came to look for additions to their collection of knick-knacks—including works by emerging illustrators such as Studio Goblo. The designs of pop culture characters with a touch of Studio Goblo style have succeeded in attracting the market to buy collections of stickers and acrylic keychains.

Of course this is not a solely Indonesian phenomenon. There are numerous examples of brands as well as independent designers and illustrators overseas engaging in the trinket wave. While trinkets have been a common sight at art fairs and comic conventions for some time—from artist made stickers and dolls to custom figurines and art prints—the trinket boom in the general public has really been evident following the COVID-19 pandemic. The popularity of “blind bag” collectible figurines like Sonny Angels and Smiski has practically exploded in the last two years. Now, both commercial and luxury brands are dipping their toes in the community. From Balenciaga’s bag charms to Singapore’s own Beyond The Vines’s key tags, it seems that everyone wants a piece of the trinket pie. The rise in popularity of trinkets can be attributed to many factors on top of the pandemic like social media trends and simple novelty. From a fashion perspective, trinkets owe their boom to a rise in popularity of maximalist accessorizing—stacks of necklaces, numerous pins, as many keychains as you can hook on your carabiner, and excessively decorating your handbag just like the icon herself, Jane Birkin.

Seeing the public's enthusiasm for art markets or trinket markets, both large and small scale, proves that the trinket market among the younger generation is quickly transforming into a lifestyle. Various new collections and responses to existing pop culture are always sought after by the market. These events also serve as a gathering place for collectors, sellers and creators—including designers and illustrators. The knick-knack trend plays a role in bridging budding creators with a curated market. With this increasing demand for cute or unique bric-a-brac, creatives have a unique opportunity to express their visual style for this eager market. The market for trinkets is a great, relatively cost-effective creative medium for emerging creatives to sell their work. While social media is now more commonly touted as a fruitful way to gain an audience, through trinkets, creatives are able to pinpoint their target market as these knickknacks are often sold at relatively affordable prices and fits into the budget of a younger market. As such, these trinkets are able to easily tap into almost “fanatical” collector culture where buyers are keen to gain ownership of as many variables of their favorite toys or knick knacks. This also makes the market for trinkets prime opportunity for creatives to more directly build community around their work thereby adding to their current and future client base. Bolstered by Indonesia’s growing middle class, the pieces created for the trinket market are in the sweet spot between freedom of creativity and demand.

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Beginning with the small things—for budding designers and illustrators, the trinket market can be a starting point for introducing and monetizing their work to the public. Seeing the trends that have developed in various art markets in recent years, simple visual works that are close to everyday life and pop culture have become quite popular collections on the market. Taking the example of one of the works of the illustrator participating in SEMASA Piknik, Michelle Sherrina, stickers with everyday puns such as an illustration of iced coffee with the text "Aku dan kamu sampai asam lambung memisahkan” (Engling: Me and you until [our] stomach acid separates us) or a typographic reference to the manga series Slam Dunk and changing the words to "Tahu Sume-dank”, a pun referring to Sumedangite tofu, are forms of “small” visual works that are of interest to the public. Of course, the illustration does not lose the "soul" of the artist because they use their own artistic style. Many trinket designs also play heavily into nostalgia. With the resurgence of the Y2K aesthetic, trinkets benefit heavily from a yearning for the 2000s era. The appeal of trinkets is imbued by sentiment of a now adult consumer base who would have spent their childhood in the early years of this new millenium. This is why many trinket designs take shape as miniatures, figures, or dolls. Designers also lean into this phenomenon by either taking direct design inspiration through pop culture references or taking on elements of the popular design aesthetic of the time. Many trinkets make references to popular Japanese anime of the noughties like Sailor Moon, Anpanman, or any film by Studio Ghibli. This plays greatly into how trinket collectors “adopt” and cherish their collection.

The public's interest in everyday prints can be an opportunity for designers and illustrators to start small. With simple designs and images, these small items can be a great source of profit and marketing for novice designers. More than that, the resulting works can become a portfolio that opens the gates to the possibility of working with even larger platforms.

About the Author

GMK Team

Collaborative articles written by multiple writers of the Grafis Masa Kini editorial team.