If you’ve ever been to the dealer’s room at an American anime convention, you’ve likely perused the pretty pastel products of Tasty Peach Studios. Their boutique-style booth sells unbearably cute plushies, wigs, enamel pins, and other merchandise based on designs by artist and company founder Ryan Zanfei. Her creations often take the form of adorable animals with food motifs, such as mochi kittens called Meowchi, narwhals topped with ice cream called Nomwhals, and a trio of cake-themed foxes. She’s also well-known for utilizing modern crowdfunding sites like Kickstarter, Indiegogo, and Patreon to fund some of her projects.

We sat down with Ryan at Matsuricon in Columbus, Ohio (for which she designed merch featuring a special version of her character Inukii wearing a dragon kigurumi) to learn more about how she runs her business and brings her characters to life. She’s just as cute and bubbly as the characters she creates, so please enjoy!

This article was written for Honey's Anime, so please read it on their site.