To truly understand JOY Studio, you need to feel the fabric and see the beautiful, loose, textured garments from handwoven fabric that dates back to the 1960s.
“That’s when people understand,” Owner Aying Zhang said. “You just touch—you will know.”
That is the foundation of JOY Studio. It’s also the reason the shop has quietly outperformed expectations in its first year.
But to understand why this small Broadway storefront matters, you have to start much earlier. Long before Fargo. Long before the store.
Back to fabric that almost doesn’t exist anymore
A Collection 15 Years in the Making
For 15 years, Aying collected fabric simply because it mattered to her.
“I didn’t know what I was going to do in the beginning,” she said. “I was just going to make little things.”
But these weren’t ordinary textiles. Every piece in JOY Studio comes from handwoven cotton made in the 1960s— fabric created before modern industrial farming, before chemical-heavy production, before speed replaced craft.
Back then, cotton was grown in healthier soil, without synthetic fertilizers or heavy chemical sprays. The fibers were stronger.
The texture was richer. The durability was unmatched.
“It’s like free-range chicken versus farm eggs. They look similar—but you taste the difference.”
With fabric, you may not “taste” it— but you feel it.
And more importantly, you feel the absence of what modern materials bring like static, stiffness, and discomfort
That early traction led to the move to her current Broadway location—a more visible space.
