Read the full Etsy blog post.My first encounter with a Japanese Rastafarian was in the subway. My daughter pointed at him playing his guitar on the platform, drawn to his stylish attire and long dreadlocks. A couple of months later, during a conversation about Japan, a musician friend mentioned a community in Brooklyn called the Brown Rice Family. I happened to come across a soap in a Japanese store in SoHo, made by a company carrying the same name. When I discovered that these were all linked, I turned to Etsy, inspired to make a video portrait of them. It was a fascinating experience to meet them, visit their world, and share a brief moment along their journey.
We are anthropologists of commerce. We’re curious about people and what they make, exchange and consume. By looking around at the stuff that matters to our lives, we believe we can understand more about what moves us as human beings.
