Abigail Terrien is a serial social entrepreneur with the good of the planet in mind. She’s started several ventures since moving from Paris to Tokyo in 2003, and markets eco-friendly goods and lifestyles both online and in physical shops such as her popup shop Small Is More in Nakameguro. Abi tells us a bit more about why and how she got started.
What kinds of goods are you bringing to Japan?
What I’ve done through my kids’ online shop Abi Loves was to bring some educational creative products made of natural materials to the market. Some of the clothes are made of organic cotton, but at first it was really hard to get any company interested in producing such goods ecologically. I decided to concentrate on more educational and creative projects for children, because I think that the more creative children are the more curious they will be growing up, and will find their own solutions to problems such as those facing the environment.
Why did you choose Tokyo to launch your newest venture, My Organic City?
Mostly because I live here, and I was missing things I was used to having in my life that also have an impact on our planet. I look at it as one of my missions in life to share what I know, to connect and hopefully create this global community for people by people who have so much interesting knowledge to share that can do us all good. What I’m doing through My Organic City Instagram is recommending healthy, delicious and hopefully organic places to eat, natural products to clean your home with and cosmetics. My main aim is to inspire people so that they change their habits just a little to use cleaner, more eco-friendly products for the sake of their health and the planet’s ecology.