Local Business Shoutout: The Fairies Wheel & Marry Go Round
- IA Designs
- Jun 24
- 6 min read
Many years back (pre covid), I had a booth right beside The Fairies Wheel at Ar-Raudhah Mosque. My sister and I stopped by their booth and fell in love with the products they were selling. I think between us, we bought quite a few quote cards. I still have the quote cards today and they have been great reminders for me everytime I look at them.
It is time we find out more about the person behind The Fairies Wheel and Marry Go Round! Say Hello to Farah, our Local Business Shoutout for June!
Farah, owner of The Fairies Wheel & Marry Go Round
Photo Credit: Farah
Salam Farah, it is such a pleasure to be able to interview you! Do share about yourself, The Fairies Wheel and Marry Go Round!
Salam & hi! I’m Farah, currently wearing multiple hats in my day job working for a local social enterprise in the education industry for over 6 years. When I say multiple hats - I juggle between product design & management, digital marketing, handling e-commerce and fulfilling customers’ orders.
Despite my juggle, I would say that graphic design is still my huge passion! Hence why I still run my small self-owned online shop - The Fairies Wheel.
The Fairies Wheel has actually been around since about a decade ago (!!). It started way back in 2014 as a duo by my best friend and I, but after we had our own full-time jobs, things came to a pause. But due to my big love for exploring my creativity in graphic design, I then continued to create for this small side hustle sparingly. The Fairies Wheel is now single-handedly managed since 2019.
The Fairies Wheel specializes in designed prints. Started out with bookmarks, quote cards and eid money envelopes, I then explored and expanded our product range such as keychains and enamel pins. Fueled by faith, our brand’s main purpose is to provide comfort and joy through our quirky yet meaningful designs.
In 2024 I launched a sub-brand on wedding prints - Marry Go Round. After spending much time working on the design templates, creating webpages of it and such, I have yet the chance to spend more time on this!
Photo Credit: The Fairies Wheel
Can you describe the moment you decided to become a business owner?
I think throughout my youth to early years of work life, I’ve always been keen to try out new things. I also came to realize that I’ve always loved graphic design and the creative industry since a young age, but was not exposed to it being a career. I’m that groupmate in school who would volunteer to work on powerpoint slides and beautifying it, video creation, and anything that requires the creative juice. My journey with Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop started with being self-taught through the endless videos available on YouTube. After having a Bachelor in Business and doing marketing work for a year, I then enrolled myself into a short intensive 6-months Visual Communications course to better understand design rules.
With the combo of my passion in both design and entrepreneurial spirit, hence The Fairies Wheel is present. There’s limitations when I work within a company due to the industry and branding requirements, hence The Fairies Wheel is where I feel allowed to explore my creativity.
What do you tell yourself in order to be motivated in doing business?
Because of the work that I produce for The Fairies Wheel, which is mostly designed prints that consist of either Islamic or motivational values, what keeps me going is hoping that these little faith & happy designs would benefit others and ultimately, the highest hope I have is that these little acts are being rewarded for me in the Akhirah. That is the ultimate goal.
What is the routine you set for yourself everyday?
As I currently have a day job, what I try to squeeze in daily is spending some time either scrolling for design inspiration from sites like Pinterest, or watching a few YouTube videos of creators talking about their design projects or sharing of designing/business tips. Besides fueling my design spirit, these habits also help remind me of what I love to do and encourage me to better myself in my skills.
Photo Credit: The Fairies Wheel
What are some of the obstacles you faced while building your business?
One of them is the production of the products. You don’t really know if people will like and purchase them, and at times you might either overproduce or underproduce them. Getting the right suppliers can be an obstacle too, especially if it’s a new product type or a new vendor you’re working with. There’s that worry on whether the response for the products that I mass-produce will turn out well. Proper research is needed for this!
Adding on to this is definitely self-doubt with each product I create. I think this is something that is constant though I try shaking it off, so it’s better rather than not trying at all and then regretting it. Also what keeps me grounded is remembering that it’s great even if my product benefits just one person!
What are the most rewarding aspects of being a business owner?
It’s the joy upon seeing our shoppers’ faces lit up when they take a closer look at our products, with some even understanding the message beyond the visuals of several products that we create. As a lot of doubts cloud my mind when designing and creating, there is an unexplainable sense of relief when I see others appreciating the work that I do and that I am able to make someone’s day through my products (:
Who are your role models?
I look up to strangers I see online who’ve got a good consistent system in place. This can be other fellow designers and creators who share about it and it can be seen that they have good planning in order to make their business succeed.
What tools, systems, books or resources would you recommend for all business owners?
There’s so many options now to help us in getting things organized in business matters, but my go-to is Google Sheets. I use it quite a lot - inventory tracking, product planning, financial tracking, idea dump. I like how various things can be done with just one (free) software!
Photo Credit: Marry Go Round
How do you find inspiration and creativity for your business ideas?
I’ve always been fascinated when I see creative and well-taught advertisement posters since young, and this grew into other types of designs I see all around me - be it physical environment like pretty book covers in a bookshop, or online such as podcast title covers. And to be really honest, I get fascinated a lot by kpop albums! Haha. If you’re wondering what I mean, it’s because it’s more than just a CD in it. From the box packaging to the contents, I get really fascinated by the amount of thought being placed into an album concept where they then create various versions of an album.
An interesting fact - for my Home Prints’ designs, I actually got inspired from a music video where I loved the retro concept and colours.
What advice will you give to aspiring business owners?
If you’re really inspired to create and feel like that’s your calling, go for it! I tend to doubt myself a lot when creating several things, but alhamdulillah you actually never know who is receptive to the stuff/service you create/provide.
Also, it takes time and effort for a business to grow so don’t give up easily! (this advice is for myself too haha)
What is the future going to be like for you and your businesses?
InshaaAllah I hope to have more time to create for The Fairies Wheel despite my day job! My mind can’t really multitask when it comes to product ideation, so it takes a long while for me to spend proper time researching and creating new products.
Hopefully there’s opportunities to hold more booths, and take in more custom design services like the event collaterals I had previously done for Pop Lokal SG.
There’s honestly a whole list of ideas I have saved over the years in my phone’s Notes, so I hope to be able to work on at least some of them, and to also grow Marry Go Round!
Photo Credit: The Fairies Wheel
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