Small Business Spotlight: YumSumCha Designs Stitches Together Asian Childhood Meals and Handmade Joy
When Samantha Wong first sewed a tiny felt bok choy for her son, she didn’t expect it would inspire a whole new chapter — one that would later grow into a business that brought joy, representation, and creativity into the hands of other parents and kids. A Chinese Australian mom based in the San Francisco Bay Area, Wong is the founder of YumSumCha Designs, a small business that reshapes imaginative play through the lens of Asian food.
After stepping away from a tech career where she found herself burnt out, Wong returned to crafting as a way to focus and reconnect with herself and her son. That spark quickly evolved into something more meaningful. Now, her small business YumSumCha offers PDF patterns and full DIY kits that feature vibrant, playful, culturally-resonant felt food toys like shrimp siu mai, mini woks, and felt cup ramen, all of which are designed to bring a bit more personalization into pretend play.
Stitching Through Asia
As a lifelong DIY and crafting enthusiast, Wong often noticed that the world of handmade play food leaned heavily toward Western staples, making it surprisingly difficult to find sewing patterns for the Asian dishes she grew up with. “It was just strange to me that I could easily find patterns to make cabbages and beets and carrots, but there wasn’t anything that was Asian,” she told EnVi over Zoom. “I thought, well, it would be nice to be able to make that link, like a commonality between my heritage and crafts, through something handmade.”
The idea to make a felt bok choy came naturally to Wong, but she didn’t revisit it until after her son was born and she began more intentionally introducing him to the flavors of her childhood. From there, she started sewing more of the foods she loved, such as ginger, trumpet mushrooms, dumplings, and asked other Asian parents what they wished they saw more of in pretend play. “Food, especially Chinese food, is very sentimental to me and a huge part of my upbringing,” she said. “Since having my own child, food and building that kind of love of food has been really important for me.”
What began as a personal project soon grew into something more. Wong turned her felt designs into downloadable patterns for other parents and educators, offering a way to explore identity representation through craft. “That’s really what I hope to gain by trying to diversify play food and crafting,” she said. “I think it’s a really nice, low-pressure way for people to get curious about the food that’s available out there, and to understand other people’s cultures.”
Her son remains both her inspiration and reviewer, as she involves him in the creative process. “My favorite is just seeing what my son’s reaction is when I make something new,” she said. “Like, ‘Okay, do you know what this is? Because if you know what it is, then probably most people will as well.’”
Threading a New Path from Tech to Crafts
Before YumSumCha, Wong’s life looked very different. After moving from Australia to the Bay Area with her husband nearly a decade ago, she built a career across tech, event management, learning and development, and more. But over time, the pressures of full-time work, motherhood without nearby family support, and the isolation of the pandemic slowly took their toll.
“I ended up quitting my job last year after being severely burnt out, and I didn’t really know what I was going to do. I was depressed, and really just had to start from the bottom. So I looked to activities that really made me happy before I became really burnt out,” she said, motioning toward the colorful fabric backdrop in her workspace. “And as you can probably see, crafting and sewing is really in my blood.”
The shift from full-time employment to independent creative work didn’t happen overnight. But as Wong began exploring crafting again, ideas poured in, and she found herself constantly imagining the meals they shared turned into felt creations. “I just couldn’t stop thinking about, ‘Oh, the food that we’re eating, what would that look like if it was felt.’ And it just kind of made me feel a lot livelier and happier and much more purposeful than thinking about working for someone else,” Wong adds.
So she dove in. At the beginning of 2025, Wong launched an Etsy store, released her first sewing patterns, and started her own website. Her background in startups, tech, and events helped her adapt easily and handle logistics and planning, but her biggest growth came from learning to trust her instincts.
“Growing up in an Asian household of people pleasing and those kinds of cultural nuances, that’s something that I am really trying to unlearn, especially as a mom,” she said. “It kind of forced me to trust more in my own instincts and my own decisions, instead of constantly asking for permission… I learned very, very quickly that I can’t trust everyone’s advice, and it’s up to me to be able to set strong boundaries of what I’m wanting to actually take action on.”
A Taste of Home, Made by Hand
For Wong, YumSumCha shows the importance of having artistic, fun, and colorful ways to honor culture, imagination, and the stories we pass on. Each handmade design opens the door for children (and adults) to play, learn, and connect through the dishes they grew up loving and continue to celebrate as part of their identity.
“I really want to empower people to bring more Asian representation into their homes,” she said. “This is play food — but I know crafting cute things is really popular with adults too. It can be decor, props, teaching aids… I just see limitless possibilities. I want people to feel proud of their roots and the food they grew up with, and see it represented in more than cooking.”
Looking ahead, Wong is excited to keep building on what she’s started. She hopes to launch more DIY kits, plush toys, and patterns of a greater variety of meals; continue expanding YumSumCha’s online presence; and eventually get her pieces stocked in shops or even through wholesale to make the creations more accessible.
“If you’ve got a passion, or even just an idea, and it feels like it could solve a problem for someone else, give it a try,” she said. “One thing I’ve learned is that just saying your idea out loud, even if you’re unsure, can open so many doors. It makes it feel more real, and it shifts your mindset. Just putting it out into the universe can lead to surprising opportunities.”
Check out YumSumCha Designs’ full collection here and take the kids (or your inner child) on an Asian felt food adventure!
Interested in more small businesses celebrating culture through playful design? Read all about the artist behind Toko Kriung’s colorful, maximalist world here.
