Akari Tanimoto, 24, is from Osaka, Japan. She has a boyfriend who she has been living with for almost two years now. Both of them are international students.

Akari had never planned on studying abroad until her mother took her to an English language school right before graduating high school. Without much thought, she came to the idea that being able to speak English sounds cool – she decided to go to California. She went to a community college in Pleasant Hill, CA but it was much more suburban than she thought. Since going shopping was her way of freeing stress, it was impossible for her to stay there. Soon after she moved to New York, she met all her fashion friends who led her to the fashion industry.

For her, the hardest part of living in NY is the rent. She didn’t imagine herself living in Chinatown when she was in Japan. Even if she could find a good apartment, it was not easy to move in as an international student. There are a lot of restrictions. That is one of the reasons she and her boyfriend move around the city at least once a year.

Akari chose to take a fashion program at Parsons instead of going to a 4 year fashion college. She thought that with the tuition at Parsons, she could open her own shop which was her childhood dream. At first, she created her own jewelry line and opened an online shopping site, mostly to Japanese customers; however, the result wasn’t as good as she expected.

Crafting and clothes are only things that she can work on. Akari took various classes to see different designs, and also started an internship at a fashion showroom. On the path of learning techniques, she was attracted by the service of order made. Then Akari came up with the idea of making order made dog clothes. That is her new project now, and she is making her very first collection for her own dog.