在文創園區內，最不乏的就是各種文創品牌，很多品牌，我根本聽都沒聽過，很多品牌，都是我與它們的第一次接觸，Second Morning 就是其中之一，而 Second Morning 快閃店的主題，居然是九週年生日，意思是說，這品牌已經存活了九年之久，而我都沒聽過，不過，當店員提到 Second Morning 是個韓國插畫品牌時，我不認識這品牌就不意外了，因為我並不那麼迷韓國。
店員接著介紹，Second Morning 以溫暖療癒的插畫與趣味設計深受粉絲們的喜愛，最有名的就是微笑檸檬圖案，除了檸檬之外也有各種水果、烤蕃薯等的插畫，而消費滿一千元台幣就可以拿到一個印有微笑檸檬的氣球喔，另外，打卡的話，會送明信片，店員真的很敬業，努力地推銷商品，然而，哈，我對水果也不感興趣。
憑良心說，雖然我自認為算是一名文藝青年，不過，近幾年來掀起的文創品牌，讓我已經有點麻痺了，同質性的設計太多了，此外，某次聚會閒聊時，有位朋友還提到，有部分文創品牌，打著「手作」或「原創設計」的名義，實際上卻是從淘寶大批進貨，再提高價錢賣出，因為我們這裡的人，其實很少會去淘寶或拚多多之類的網站，大多只在本土電商平台找商品，就被不肖業者鑽了個空，大賺一筆，所以，現在很多人也不在像之前一樣，那麼支持文創了。
One thing you’ll never run out of in a creative park is creative brands. Honestly, there are so many brands I’ve never even heard of before, and for many of them, it’s my first time encountering them. Second Morning was one of those brands. The theme of the Second Morning pop-up store was actually its 9th anniversary birthday, which means the brand has already been around for nine years, and yet I had never heard of it before. But when the staff told me that Second Morning is a Korean illustration brand, it suddenly made sense why I didn’t know it, since I’m not really that into Korean culture.
The staff then explained that Second Morning is loved by fans for its warm, healing-style illustrations and fun designs. Their most famous design is the smiling lemon character, though they also have illustrations of different fruits, roasted sweet potatoes, and other cute things. If you spent over NT$1,000, you could get a smiling lemon balloon, and if you checked in on social media, they would give you a postcard. The staff member was honestly very dedicated and worked hard to promote the products. But well… I’m not really interested in fruit-themed stuff.
To be honest, although I consider myself somewhat of an artsy person, the huge wave of creative brands over the past few years has made me a little numb to it all. There are just too many designs that feel similar to each other. Also, during a casual gathering once, a friend mentioned that some creative brands claim their products are “handmade” or “original designs”, but in reality, they just bulk order items from Taobao and then resell them at much higher prices. Since people here rarely shop on websites like Taobao or Pinduoduo and mostly stick to local e-commerce platforms, some shady sellers have taken advantage of that information gap and made a fortune. Because of this, a lot of people nowadays aren’t as supportive of creative brands as they used to be.
