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KenCreative 3D Makes Imagination Tangible
Ken Matsutsuru and Ryan Ricasio have combined hustle, creativity, and a 3D printer to build a growing business one flea market at a time.
Kelli Luu (00:00)
Ken Matsusuru and Ryan Ricasio are the duo behind Ken Creative 3D, an Asian-owned 3D printing company that's turning heads at local flea markets with custom 3D-printed Labubu keychains to stunning home decorations. They are building their business layer by layer. My name is Kelli Luu with Gold Sea. Welcome Ken and Ryan! Hi! Hi guys! Thank you so much for being with us today. I really want to know how you two met and what was the inspiration behind a 3D printing business.
Ryan Ricasio (00:20)
Hello, welcome.
Ken Matsutsuru (00:30)
Sure. So we met with a mutual friends, mutual friends and we are really similar hobbies and like what we like ⁓ and we love creating some stuff.
Ryan Ricasio (00:44)
Yeah, we have known each other for almost 13 years now and then we discover, you know, we have so much similarities like what he said. We're both creative. We always want to create something, something new, something fun. And then it all started during a trip to a theme park. You know, we're just having fun and stuff. And then we noticed this big bunch of people gathering over something. So we were like, what is that? So we got curious and then we went to a store because that time they were having this bazooka.
Mark. ⁓
Then we saw an actual 3D store selling different 3D items, merchandise. So we were like, wow, this is cool. Because that's our first time seeing 3D prints. Now from there, we figured, hmm, this could be a good idea for us since, you know, this is something new and we've heard about this and people are going crazy over 3D prints. So aside from that, we realized we have big families, you know, and when you say big families, celebrations, gifts, we were like, instead of creating or buying stuff, why don't we create our own?
Kelli Luu (01:26)
Okay.
Ryan Ricasio (01:46)
We can personalize stuff. We can create our own stuff. know, the potential. It can be a good business later on and that's how we started 3D and created 3D.
Kelli Luu (01:57)
Okay, awesome. So was that recently or when when did that come about? So that's pretty recent
Ryan Ricasio (02:02)
December I think.
Ken Matsutsuru (02:02)
December.
Ryan Ricasio (02:07)
Yeah, was recent. December, we went to the tea park and then we realized at the beginning of the month, at the end of the month, were like, maybe next year we need to start something new.
every events, every parties, we need to provide something. We need to show something like, wow, this is Ryan, this is made by Ryan and Ken. December, part of the December, that's when we started buying the materials, like buying the printer, creating stuff, like figuring what kind of merchandise we would want to sell.
Kelli Luu (02:38)
So 3D printing is still pretty new to a lot of people. Can you explain to me briefly how it works?
Ken Matsutsuru (02:45)
So decide the design that you want to print and then it's called filament that's the material. There's a different type of the materials but it's everything's made by plastic and then ⁓ put it in the printer and then the printer does all the works but ⁓ only the things that I decide is the colors for the product. see. Yeah and then there is different colors also even like silk, matte material.
So there is a bunch of stuff to decide and then once it came out products that's the sometimes, you know, doesn't play well, but you know, the tricking some settings and then, you know, stuff in just tweak some stuff and then make a better product. There's a whole many settings, know, like thousand settings that you can share with.
Kelli Luu (03:41)
my gosh.
Ken Matsutsuru (03:42)
So that's kind of like a problem that you have to ⁓ self-thought and then trick by yourself and make it better products.
Kelli Luu (03:52)
I see. So how do you choose what products that you want to create? ⁓
Ryan Ricasio (03:58)
means
a lot of celebrations. So that time during December, we figured, maybe we'll start with a star or a Christmas record. So that's how we started. depends. Yeah, it depends on the activities or whatever we feel like doing. They all go crazy over Labooboo. And we're like, Labooboo. Because we always hear that word, but at first we didn't know what Labooboo was about. So we started doing research, and then we figured, oh, that's why kids love Labooboo, because it's
Interesting. It's fun. And that's how we started with our loveable line or whether kids would like a happy, happy looking. We're really looking at Google. And then we figured, yeah, I mean, they pretty much like whatever as long as it's
Ken Matsutsuru (04:42)
This is the love boot, I'm sorry, way. Keychain. Or like we have like those flat love boot. So it's a flex like this.
Kelli Luu (04:47)
that's so cute.
Ryan Ricasio (04:56)
And
so that's what Jen was saying. Having this 3D concept, I mean, 3D printing, it's good because you get to personalize what you want to do, what you want to print out. All you need to do is to have the creativity, visualize what you want, what colors you want, the size, and then you use the app. You create a product and then you send the file to the printer and the printer will do everything for you.
Kelli Luu (05:21)
Wow. So do you do it layer by layer or is there a template?
Ken Matsutsuru (05:26)
Right, so everything is layer by layer. So let's see, this one is another toy. So it's actually the half and a half, I put it together, but it goes this way and then layer by layer, the play-doh is playing.
Ryan Ricasio (05:45)
Yeah.
Kelli Luu (05:45)
Very
cool. ⁓ wow. And so do you guys make the template or does the app make it?
Ryan Ricasio (05:52)
the figure will actually the designs are there. I need to do is just to make sure you buy the license because everything is like since then you get to customize what you want. The colors. Maybe you can make some tweaks here and there, like the size. Maybe add this and that. Yeah, that's that's how it works.
Kelli Luu (06:13)
Can anyone just buy a 3D printer and make whatever they want?
Ken Matsutsuru (06:19)
Yeah, pretty much. Yes. but when you once come to, know, if you want to sell that you have to get the light.
Kelli Luu (06:26)
So
how much are these printers going for? They're new, so…
Ryan Ricasio (06:29)
can be expensive.
So buying the printer is not a problem. But what kind of printer do you want? What's the purpose of the 3D printer? Do you want it for personal use? You don't have to buy the expensive ones. But then do you want to sell something? Then you have to get the quality ones. But quality ones means the price is quite high. We've seen printer as cheap as $200.
Ken Matsutsuru (06:57)
2,
2, 300.
Ryan Ricasio (06:59)
Up to
thousands.
Kelli Luu (07:00)
Got it. Okay, so there's a range. It depends on what the purpose is. Okay, cool. So is the Lububu one of your best sellers so far?
Ken Matsutsuru (07:05)
Correct.
Also, we have different fidget, keychain, this Pokeball, and it's the clicker. So this is fidget like this. Yeah, you can click. Or even like, you know, we have…
Ryan Ricasio (07:24)
came
up with the planters. you know like what we do is when you go to farmers market typically what you see are those planters with the usual designs but we figured why not maximize the you know the 3D printer.
Ken Matsutsuru (07:39)
here,
this is the phone stand like this. So this is ⁓ the phone stand, but this was only one color. So that's much faster. And I would say this piece, this big is ⁓ three to five hours. But ⁓ like Labooboo, there's different colors, like eyes, nose, and then face and body. So those different colors takes hours and it's like triple time.
Kelli Luu (08:07)
Something that you guys wish people knew more about 3D printing.
Ryan Ricasio (08:11)
3D
printing is not just about printing those cute stuff. 3D printing, well, the benefit of ⁓ 3D printing is it's not just the cute stuff. You can also make useful stuff that you can use in your daily lives.
Kelli Luu (08:27)
you guys deciding how much to sell a product for?
Ken Matsutsuru (08:30)
We do the research, know, the similar products and then ⁓ we try to, well, I mean, ⁓ compete also, but then make it because we are focusing on the farmers market and it should be affordable.
Ryan Ricasio (08:46)
We just
started not too long ago. we're still at the point where we're trying to see what kind of crowd we're getting. People who go to farmers market have the budget. They have the budget. They don't want to just spend too much money. So when we started at this farmers market, we realized, yeah, people would not want to spend too much. Well, pretty different thing. I guess it's been there.
Kelli Luu (09:00)
Okay.
Ryan Ricasio (09:15)
for quite a long time. just that not a lot of people are willing to produce 3D prints.
Kelli Luu (09:21)
Yeah, and a lot of people don't have access to it because a lot of people aren't just going out and buying a 3D printer every day. it's very cool and very interesting. I love it. Do you guys feel like your Asian heritage influences your work or business model?
Ryan Ricasio (09:39)
Actually, like for me, Filipino. So, we try to incorporate that Filipino side in our items, like small merchandise showing Philippine colors, the flat colors, know, stuff like that. I mean, we can incorporate those stuff bit by bit.
Ken Matsutsuru (09:57)
Yeah, actually, I made those lion figures, you know, like the Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year, the performance lion dance. And then she wanted to have those lion figure, the Chinese lion dragon or, you know, that looks like that. So I made it for her.
Ryan Ricasio (10:06)
The loader and
Kelli Luu (10:20)
awesome, yeah everyone loves something customized like that. Exactly, yeah. What were you guys doing before you got into the 3D printing business?
Ryan Ricasio (10:23)
Maybe represent something of them.
I'm a claims adjuster for a ⁓ company here in L.A. Cool. For a shipping company here in L.A. So, yeah.
Ken Matsutsuru (10:40)
I'm actually an artist, so I'm a musician and dancer. I do live streaming ⁓ too.
Kelli Luu (10:50)
nice.
Ryan Ricasio (10:51)
It's crazy because in the morning we were like the artists, we were like the claims adjuster, but at night we transformed into these 3D printers. 3D artists here.
Kelli Luu (11:02)
Yeah,
yeah. It's awesome. It is one piece of advice that you guys give to somebody looking to start their own creative side hustle like this.
Ryan Ricasio (11:09)
Just have fun. Like when we started, we didn't have this expectation like, people will buy it right away. If you know what you want, if you're determined to succeed, just continue what you're doing. It will just happen one day.
Ken Matsutsuru (11:22)
I just love ⁓ creating stuff. I'm already enjoying what I'm doing right now. ⁓ You know, it's totally new thing to me to making some stuff and sell the product. So ⁓ just have fun with it.
Kelli Luu (11:37)
⁓ Can you show us some of like the favorite things that you've printed that you haven't showed us yet?
Ken Matsutsuru (11:41)
It's
a french fry phone stand and it has the hole so you can put the charger at the same time. ⁓
Ryan Ricasio (11:50)
with
this one too, like the ⁓ cushion, so much, you can do so much.
Kelli Luu (11:55)
Yeah, those are awesome. I love the planter idea because that's very cool. You can be so creative with that. My final question is, what are some goals for Ken Creative this year?
Ken Matsutsuru (12:06)
We just started ⁓ to sell at the farmers market ⁓ since last month, May. then our goal is to expand more. We want to try different places. And then I'm making a website right now to sell online.
Ryan Ricasio (12:23)
Like what he said, we're trying to expand. So from a farmers market store, then we will start creating our online store.
Kelli Luu (12:32)
Okay, well we're excited to see things that you guys do and I wanted to thank you guys for so much for speaking with us today with Gold Sea.
Ryan Ricasio (12:39)
Thank you so much. Thank you for talking to us.
View all episodes
By VoxcaliKen Matsutsuru and Ryan Ricasio have combined hustle, creativity, and a 3D printer to build a growing business one flea market at a time.
Kelli Luu (00:00)
Ken Matsusuru and Ryan Ricasio are the duo behind Ken Creative 3D, an Asian-owned 3D printing company that's turning heads at local flea markets with custom 3D-printed Labubu keychains to stunning home decorations. They are building their business layer by layer. My name is Kelli Luu with Gold Sea. Welcome Ken and Ryan! Hi! Hi guys! Thank you so much for being with us today. I really want to know how you two met and what was the inspiration behind a 3D printing business.
Ryan Ricasio (00:20)
Hello, welcome.
Ken Matsutsuru (00:30)
Sure. So we met with a mutual friends, mutual friends and we are really similar hobbies and like what we like ⁓ and we love creating some stuff.
Ryan Ricasio (00:44)
Yeah, we have known each other for almost 13 years now and then we discover, you know, we have so much similarities like what he said. We're both creative. We always want to create something, something new, something fun. And then it all started during a trip to a theme park. You know, we're just having fun and stuff. And then we noticed this big bunch of people gathering over something. So we were like, what is that? So we got curious and then we went to a store because that time they were having this bazooka.
Mark. ⁓
Then we saw an actual 3D store selling different 3D items, merchandise. So we were like, wow, this is cool. Because that's our first time seeing 3D prints. Now from there, we figured, hmm, this could be a good idea for us since, you know, this is something new and we've heard about this and people are going crazy over 3D prints. So aside from that, we realized we have big families, you know, and when you say big families, celebrations, gifts, we were like, instead of creating or buying stuff, why don't we create our own?
Kelli Luu (01:26)
Okay.
Ryan Ricasio (01:46)
We can personalize stuff. We can create our own stuff. know, the potential. It can be a good business later on and that's how we started 3D and created 3D.
Kelli Luu (01:57)
Okay, awesome. So was that recently or when when did that come about? So that's pretty recent
Ryan Ricasio (02:02)
December I think.
Ken Matsutsuru (02:02)
December.
Ryan Ricasio (02:07)
Yeah, was recent. December, we went to the tea park and then we realized at the beginning of the month, at the end of the month, were like, maybe next year we need to start something new.
every events, every parties, we need to provide something. We need to show something like, wow, this is Ryan, this is made by Ryan and Ken. December, part of the December, that's when we started buying the materials, like buying the printer, creating stuff, like figuring what kind of merchandise we would want to sell.
Kelli Luu (02:38)
So 3D printing is still pretty new to a lot of people. Can you explain to me briefly how it works?
Ken Matsutsuru (02:45)
So decide the design that you want to print and then it's called filament that's the material. There's a different type of the materials but it's everything's made by plastic and then ⁓ put it in the printer and then the printer does all the works but ⁓ only the things that I decide is the colors for the product. see. Yeah and then there is different colors also even like silk, matte material.
So there is a bunch of stuff to decide and then once it came out products that's the sometimes, you know, doesn't play well, but you know, the tricking some settings and then, you know, stuff in just tweak some stuff and then make a better product. There's a whole many settings, know, like thousand settings that you can share with.
Kelli Luu (03:41)
my gosh.
Ken Matsutsuru (03:42)
So that's kind of like a problem that you have to ⁓ self-thought and then trick by yourself and make it better products.
Kelli Luu (03:52)
I see. So how do you choose what products that you want to create? ⁓
Ryan Ricasio (03:58)
means
a lot of celebrations. So that time during December, we figured, maybe we'll start with a star or a Christmas record. So that's how we started. depends. Yeah, it depends on the activities or whatever we feel like doing. They all go crazy over Labooboo. And we're like, Labooboo. Because we always hear that word, but at first we didn't know what Labooboo was about. So we started doing research, and then we figured, oh, that's why kids love Labooboo, because it's
Interesting. It's fun. And that's how we started with our loveable line or whether kids would like a happy, happy looking. We're really looking at Google. And then we figured, yeah, I mean, they pretty much like whatever as long as it's
Ken Matsutsuru (04:42)
This is the love boot, I'm sorry, way. Keychain. Or like we have like those flat love boot. So it's a flex like this.
Kelli Luu (04:47)
that's so cute.
Ryan Ricasio (04:56)
And
so that's what Jen was saying. Having this 3D concept, I mean, 3D printing, it's good because you get to personalize what you want to do, what you want to print out. All you need to do is to have the creativity, visualize what you want, what colors you want, the size, and then you use the app. You create a product and then you send the file to the printer and the printer will do everything for you.
Kelli Luu (05:21)
Wow. So do you do it layer by layer or is there a template?
Ken Matsutsuru (05:26)
Right, so everything is layer by layer. So let's see, this one is another toy. So it's actually the half and a half, I put it together, but it goes this way and then layer by layer, the play-doh is playing.
Ryan Ricasio (05:45)
Yeah.
Kelli Luu (05:45)
Very
cool. ⁓ wow. And so do you guys make the template or does the app make it?
Ryan Ricasio (05:52)
the figure will actually the designs are there. I need to do is just to make sure you buy the license because everything is like since then you get to customize what you want. The colors. Maybe you can make some tweaks here and there, like the size. Maybe add this and that. Yeah, that's that's how it works.
Kelli Luu (06:13)
Can anyone just buy a 3D printer and make whatever they want?
Ken Matsutsuru (06:19)
Yeah, pretty much. Yes. but when you once come to, know, if you want to sell that you have to get the light.
Kelli Luu (06:26)
So
how much are these printers going for? They're new, so…
Ryan Ricasio (06:29)
can be expensive.
So buying the printer is not a problem. But what kind of printer do you want? What's the purpose of the 3D printer? Do you want it for personal use? You don't have to buy the expensive ones. But then do you want to sell something? Then you have to get the quality ones. But quality ones means the price is quite high. We've seen printer as cheap as $200.
Ken Matsutsuru (06:57)
2,
2, 300.
Ryan Ricasio (06:59)
Up to
thousands.
Kelli Luu (07:00)
Got it. Okay, so there's a range. It depends on what the purpose is. Okay, cool. So is the Lububu one of your best sellers so far?
Ken Matsutsuru (07:05)
Correct.
Also, we have different fidget, keychain, this Pokeball, and it's the clicker. So this is fidget like this. Yeah, you can click. Or even like, you know, we have…
Ryan Ricasio (07:24)
came
up with the planters. you know like what we do is when you go to farmers market typically what you see are those planters with the usual designs but we figured why not maximize the you know the 3D printer.
Ken Matsutsuru (07:39)
here,
this is the phone stand like this. So this is ⁓ the phone stand, but this was only one color. So that's much faster. And I would say this piece, this big is ⁓ three to five hours. But ⁓ like Labooboo, there's different colors, like eyes, nose, and then face and body. So those different colors takes hours and it's like triple time.
Kelli Luu (08:07)
Something that you guys wish people knew more about 3D printing.
Ryan Ricasio (08:11)
3D
printing is not just about printing those cute stuff. 3D printing, well, the benefit of ⁓ 3D printing is it's not just the cute stuff. You can also make useful stuff that you can use in your daily lives.
Kelli Luu (08:27)
you guys deciding how much to sell a product for?
Ken Matsutsuru (08:30)
We do the research, know, the similar products and then ⁓ we try to, well, I mean, ⁓ compete also, but then make it because we are focusing on the farmers market and it should be affordable.
Ryan Ricasio (08:46)
We just
started not too long ago. we're still at the point where we're trying to see what kind of crowd we're getting. People who go to farmers market have the budget. They have the budget. They don't want to just spend too much money. So when we started at this farmers market, we realized, yeah, people would not want to spend too much. Well, pretty different thing. I guess it's been there.
Kelli Luu (09:00)
Okay.
Ryan Ricasio (09:15)
for quite a long time. just that not a lot of people are willing to produce 3D prints.
Kelli Luu (09:21)
Yeah, and a lot of people don't have access to it because a lot of people aren't just going out and buying a 3D printer every day. it's very cool and very interesting. I love it. Do you guys feel like your Asian heritage influences your work or business model?
Ryan Ricasio (09:39)
Actually, like for me, Filipino. So, we try to incorporate that Filipino side in our items, like small merchandise showing Philippine colors, the flat colors, know, stuff like that. I mean, we can incorporate those stuff bit by bit.
Ken Matsutsuru (09:57)
Yeah, actually, I made those lion figures, you know, like the Chinese New Year or the Lunar New Year, the performance lion dance. And then she wanted to have those lion figure, the Chinese lion dragon or, you know, that looks like that. So I made it for her.
Ryan Ricasio (10:06)
The loader and
Kelli Luu (10:20)
awesome, yeah everyone loves something customized like that. Exactly, yeah. What were you guys doing before you got into the 3D printing business?
Ryan Ricasio (10:23)
Maybe represent something of them.
I'm a claims adjuster for a ⁓ company here in L.A. Cool. For a shipping company here in L.A. So, yeah.
Ken Matsutsuru (10:40)
I'm actually an artist, so I'm a musician and dancer. I do live streaming ⁓ too.
Kelli Luu (10:50)
nice.
Ryan Ricasio (10:51)
It's crazy because in the morning we were like the artists, we were like the claims adjuster, but at night we transformed into these 3D printers. 3D artists here.
Kelli Luu (11:02)
Yeah,
yeah. It's awesome. It is one piece of advice that you guys give to somebody looking to start their own creative side hustle like this.
Ryan Ricasio (11:09)
Just have fun. Like when we started, we didn't have this expectation like, people will buy it right away. If you know what you want, if you're determined to succeed, just continue what you're doing. It will just happen one day.
Ken Matsutsuru (11:22)
I just love ⁓ creating stuff. I'm already enjoying what I'm doing right now. ⁓ You know, it's totally new thing to me to making some stuff and sell the product. So ⁓ just have fun with it.
Kelli Luu (11:37)
⁓ Can you show us some of like the favorite things that you've printed that you haven't showed us yet?
Ken Matsutsuru (11:41)
It's
a french fry phone stand and it has the hole so you can put the charger at the same time. ⁓
Ryan Ricasio (11:50)
with
this one too, like the ⁓ cushion, so much, you can do so much.
Kelli Luu (11:55)
Yeah, those are awesome. I love the planter idea because that's very cool. You can be so creative with that. My final question is, what are some goals for Ken Creative this year?
Ken Matsutsuru (12:06)
We just started ⁓ to sell at the farmers market ⁓ since last month, May. then our goal is to expand more. We want to try different places. And then I'm making a website right now to sell online.
Ryan Ricasio (12:23)
Like what he said, we're trying to expand. So from a farmers market store, then we will start creating our online store.
Kelli Luu (12:32)
Okay, well we're excited to see things that you guys do and I wanted to thank you guys for so much for speaking with us today with Gold Sea.
Ryan Ricasio (12:39)
Thank you so much. Thank you for talking to us.