From stickers to keychains, manufacturing and selling their own merchandise has become a crucial aspect of junior Misha Ranjan’s life that has allowed them to become more personally expressive, they said. 

Ranjan said they first began manufacturing their own merchandise due to the lack of interesting stickers sold at stores.

“I was looking for stickers from certain bands or projects I liked, but I couldn’t find any, so I was like, ‘Oh, I should make some of my own,’” Ranjan said. “I was wondering if other fans wanted to buy it as well, so I [made] more of them and sold to people who also liked the stickers.”

To produce their merchandise, Ranjan said they partnered with Vograce, an online wholesale company specializing in small batches of custom items. Ranjan would first draw digital designs and then merge them with a variety of company templates before posting, they said. 

Despite the sales part of this project, Ranjan said their main goal is to simply showcase their own art in various forms.

“I’m not pursuing this as a small business, like putting all my effort into it.” Ranjan said. “It’s [about] whatever art or products I want to work on, and if I can get them out as stickers and build a following with that. With Instagram, I like making advertisement videos and sharing my art.”

As one of Ranjan’s classmates, junior Zainab Baig said she admires their art for its level of imagination and dedication.

“They put all their effort into their work,” Baig said. “They’re also really creative. They designed their own pants once, and I didn’t know they were designed. I thought they were bought, and I honestly love all the artwork they do.” 

Having bought jellyfish, tomato and fish stickers as well as other accessories from Ranjan, junior Berwen Xu said he believed they were worth every dollar he spent.

“They were really good quality and very pretty,” Xu said. “They put a lot of artistic work in rendering them, which made them so nice to look at, and they were very durable. They lasted me a good six months without me protecting them.” 

Along their entire journey, Ranjan said they view their items as a deep source of accomplishment and a representation of themself.

“It’s a really cool extension of my art,” Ranjan said. “I love having physical merch, and I also love paying less for individual prices. It allows me to really personalize my gifts to people and also share my designs with others.”