Fozzy Dayrit is probably one of my biggest idols in the local calligraphy community, so I jumped up…read moreand down when she posted that she would have a "Calligratherapy" afternoon in Staple & Perk
Bakery last March.
Calligratherapy is Fozzy's way of bringing calligraphy enthusiasts together. It's not a class or a
workshop. It's basically just a fun afternoon of eating, drinking coffee, meeting new people and well, doing calligraphy!
Signing up was quite difficult. With all the Fozzy fans out there, getting a slot was like shooting
the winning shot in the NBA Finals. I kid you not, I had to shoo away my boyfriend from his laptop, just
so I could use it to sign up and it took me an hour!When I e-mailed Fozzy to confirm my slot, she
mentioned that she was scared that people were breaking her website because a lot of people were
having a difficult time signing up.
Anyway, I got a slot. I came to Staple & Perk and I was like a kid in Disneyland seeing Princess
Jasmine for the first time. I was star strucked. Okay, non-calligraphy enthusiasts may not get it, but
seriously, it was like meeting your number one idol. She welcomed me and gave me a few sheets of
paper, plus her special Awesome Practice Pad, which the calligratherapists were able to have a first look of that day. None of us wanted to use it. For some reason, we didn't want to waste the beautiful paper that smelled so good, I wanted to hug it.
To start off, we introduced ourselves one by one and for some reason, Fozzy wanted us to tell
everyone the one food we could eat every day for the rest of our lives. I guess it was some kind of ice
breaker, which worked perfectly.
Afterwards, Fozzy was open to questions from beginner calligraphy enthusiasts like me. We
asked about different fonts, how to use certain kinds of inks and how to scan our prints. Remember how
I said that this was just bring all of us together? Well, Fozzy kept saying, "This is not a class guys! Have
fun!" Probably because we were all so eager to practice our new knowledge from Fozzy.
We were served food and unlimited coffee (yay!). There was a little table set up also by Scribe
for us to buy new materials for our calligraphy needs. I had enough self-control to not buy anything
because I tend to hoard all these inks and papers.
We ended with just chit chats with Fozzy and our table mates. I actually made new friends, Lyra
and Deng. We shared different kinds of inks and tips with each other and Lyra even traded one of my
inks for Fozzy's Notebook of Infinite Patience.
I absolutely enjoyed Calligratherapy because I loved meeting new people, having unlimited
coffee and of course, meeting one of my idols.
If you ever want to join Calligratherapy, you can follow Fozzy on Instagram @thefozzybook or check out her website: www.thefozzybook.com.