Like what do you mean shopping small isn’t your entire personality 🤨
Celebrate AANHPI Heritage Month with @akassaco this Saturday, May 16!
20+ makers giving back to @chirla_org
11am - 3pm
40 Mills Pl, Pasadena CA 91105
See you there 🤍
#makersmarket #shopsmall #smallbusinesssupportingsmallbusiness #shoppasadena
The door is open. Come on in. 🏮 May 16 · 11AM–3PM · @whimsy.pasadena in Pasadena
We’re so excited to unveil the theme for our upcoming AKASSA Makers Market: Open House 🏠
This one is special. Not just because we’re celebrating AANHPI Heritage Month, but because Open House is really a reflection of who we are as a community. AKASSA has always been a home—a house where the door is always open, where you’re welcome as you are, and where you’re invited to stay as long as you please. (Shoes off, though. You know the rules! 😌)
We’re a home that’s been shaped by the people who keep coming back. By the makers who pour their hearts into their craft. By the shoppers who choose to spend their dollars with intention. By everyone who has shown up, paid their kindness forward, and helped us build something that genuinely uplifts minority and female voices.
This month, we’re honoring the 2026 AANHPI Heritage Month theme — Power in Unity: Strengthening Communities Together — because that’s not just a theme for us. That’s the whole blueprint for building our markets and community.
20+ independent AAPI and women-owned small makers. Craft activities. Giving back to CHIRLA. And a whole lot of community waiting to welcome you.
Come as you are. Stay as you please. 🦋
🎟️ Free admission — RSVP link in bio and check-in early for freebies (until supplies last!)
📍 Whimsy Pasadena · 40 Mills Pl, Pasadena, CA 91105
📅 11am - 3pm
🎗 Spotlight charity for this event: CHIRLA
Art credit: @raijin.studio
#makersmarket #popupmarket #pasadenaevents #AAPIHeritageMonth#thingstodola
Always wanted to junk journal but don’t know where to start? Grab one of our junk journal kits this weekend for $12!
Each kit includes a small journal, prompts, stickers, and an assortment of washi tape. For every journal purchased we’ll be donating 50% of sales to CHIRLA this weekend.
🎟️ Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓️ May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #LAmakersmarket
When we last raised funds for @chirla_org , you all helped us smash our goal. Now we are doubling it for our next charity spotlight.
Open House is our May gathering — AAPI Heritage Month, 20+ makers, craft activities, and a room full of people who believe that showing up is a form of care.
Founded in 1986, the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights has spent nearly four decades fighting for the dignity and rights of immigrants in California and beyond. They offer low-cost legal services, connect people to healthcare and education, and advocate for policies that protect communities — including many of our own. They were here long before this moment, and they’ll be here after.
Our vendors are contributing a portion of their sales, and our GoFundMe is open for direct donations to help CHIRLA keep doing what they do.
If you can’t make it to the event but still want to donate, our go fund me page is linked in our bio. Every donation helps!
🎟️ Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓️ May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #LAmakersmarket
We are so excited to be back @akassaco this Saturday! Here are the flavors we will be bringing and I can’t wait for everyone to try the new flavors! Hope to see you all there! 💛❤️
It’s AAPI Heritage Month and @akassaco is saying raising funds to support @chirla_org in defending the rights and future of immigrant families through legal services and policy advocacy. You can check out their IG for more info about all of the latest activities they’ve been up to!
This weekend, if you’re out here in LA, swing by @whimsy.pasadena from 11am-3pm to shop small makers donating a portion of their sales to CHIRLA. See ya there! ☺️🛍️
Spotted: our famous AKASSA totes 👀
Want a free one too?
1️⃣ RSVP to our Open House Makers Market on Eventbrite (link in bio).
2️⃣ At the event check-in, show us your RSVP ticket.
3️⃣ Get your free AKASSA tote (while supplies last, first come first serve!)
See you this Saturday, May 16th between 11am - 3pm!
#makersmarket #aapiheritagemonth #shoplocal #lapopup #pasadena
🐾 Custom pet portraits, original work, and oil pastels that make you feel something.
We’re welcoming a brand new maker to the AKASSA Market. Meet Cristina Yi of @yeepaints . 🎨
Cristina creates custom pet portraits in oil pastel alongside original work and art prints — each piece handmade and full of the kind of warmth that comes from someone who genuinely loves what they make. The kind of table where you see your pet rendered in color and immediately want to cry a little. In the best way.
She came to AKASSA because she believes in spaces that celebrate Asian American and women-owned small businesses and bring people together through art.
Bring your market passport and come find her table at Open House.
🎟 Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓 May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #LAmakersmarket
🍦Ice cream that started as a thank-you and grew into something more.
Meet Cathrina Escobar of @sweetnbarrel — a brand new face at the AKASSA Market and a story worth stopping to hear.
Sweet’n Barrel is a small-batch ice cream business born out of the pandemic — friends and family making ice cream from scratch as a way to show gratitude to the people who helped them through it. That simple act of care became a business rooted in Filipino heritage and the flavors they grew up loving. Ube, Buko Pandan, Queso, Matcha & Cookies, Calamansi Curd Cheesecake, Roasted Mango Sticky Rice, and dairy-free options so no one has to sit this one out. 😋
They came to AKASSA because food brings people together and this market does too. For a Filipino-inspired business built on culture, creativity, and community — this felt like home.
Bring your market passport and come find their table at Open House.
🎟 Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓 May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #LAmakersmarket
🌿 Some tables feel like a beginning. Monette La’s is one of them.
@_monegg is the small business of Monette La — a Vietnamese and Indian story artist based in California creating illustrations and small accessories inspired by music, video games, animation, and the natural world. Quiet, considered, and entirely their own. They’re just getting started. And Open House feels like exactly the right place to begin.
They came to AKASSA because they believe in spaces that uplift creatives and make meaningful connections possible. We believe in makers like Monette. Come see what they’re building.
🎟 Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓 May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #lamakersmarket
🪵 Hand-turned, one at a time, guided by the grain of the wood.
We’re welcoming a brand new maker to the AKASSA Market. Meet Freeman Huang of @Treemanstudio . 🌳
Freeman is a father, grandfather, and artist who discovered woodturning in his 70s. What began
as a quiet, steady practice in a garage workshop has become a meaningful way to create objects with purpose and longevity — hand-turned wooden bowls, dishes, vases, and vessels made from reclaimed or responsibly sourced hardwoods. Each piece shaped one at a time on the lathe, guided by the natural grain and character of the wood. Now a family endeavor,
Freeman’s daughter Evita manages branding and markets as a way to bring his work to a wider
audience — and as an excuse for the two of them to spend more time together.
Freeman has deep roots in the Taiwanese community of the San Gabriel Valley. He raised his daughters in Temple City, spent years running a Mandarin-language newspaper serving this community, and now — with newfound time after retiring in October 2025 — has found renewed purpose and joy in his craft. Being part of AKASSA during AAPI Heritage Month, just down the
road from home, means everything.
We are honored to have him here.
Bring your market passport and come find their table at Open House.
🎟 Free RSVP — link in bio
🗓 May 16 | 11AM–3PM
📍 Whimsy Pasadena
#pasadenaevents #ShopLocalLA #LApopup #thingstodola #lamakersmarket
