I have always liked working with my hands... cooking in the kitchen, working in the garden or sewing, making costumes for the kids when they were smaller... anything. Love it. When we moved to this small village I heard about the upholstery group too, but for the first year for two I was very reluctant to join. Now I cannot imagine my life without it. Learnt new things and met another set of great people through the love of creating something new, bringing old and tired furniture pieces back to life.
On top of that inspired by day to day life with my family, I have created these beautifully handcrafted everyday items that are guaranteed to brighten your day. Made with real attention to details and with a wonderful range of quality fabrics, these items are finished to the highest quality.
These bags remind me of the ones I used to see in Japan. The girls in kimonos used to carry them around in Yoyogi park and other places while I was wondering the streets of Tokyo with my friend Alice after school.
I love the fabric cover that you can pull together on the top to close the bag thus protect items that you carry. My daughters use the smaller ones for taking their snacks to school; I lined them with laminated cotton to ensure that nothing spilled.
The big ones they loved using for packing their gym kit in. They proved very robust and unique, ensuring that they were never lost even though sometimes left it behind in the school!
Having book covers brings back memories of my childhood years, when each September after collecting all the school books, weekends were spent wrapping them in protective covers. Even though electronic publishing increasingly plays a bigger part in our lives, we are still picking up books to read; and what a great way to protect them with personalised book covers! My collection covers everything from school books (themed with embroidery for science, geography, math etc.) to paperback covers with the initials or the name of the proud owner! I believe these colourful textile covers are easy and fun to use, last long time and are simple to keep clean. They make wonderfully different personalised presents.
I have an amazing adopted family in Yokohama, Japan who helped make my Japanese studies possible when I was younger. Years later, my work took me back to Tokyo. During the time I spent there I was fascinated by the effort that goes into packing obento (lunch) boxes for children/students and also for adults. This fascination grew to a healthy obsession once we had our own twins in Taiwan and I was able to start making things for them.
I simply love packing snacks, school lunches in these colourful and very practical bags. The Asian food embroidery designs give a great character to them. Current styles wary from buttoned and velcro closing to two sided retractable closing.
I initially made these one Christmas as a present for my children. The aim was that we would create something to hold and keep safe all their drawing and painting items in one manageable folder.
Very quickly all their school friends wanted one - with slightly different structures and designs. On one side it holds all the pencils in organised individual pencil slots and above them there is a closed little pocket where smaller items, like rubbers and pencil sharpeners, can fit. On the other side of the folder their A4 sized sketch books and drawing sheets fit into a specifically designed holder. It worked! In fact it worked so well that it has become the most popular item I have designed to-date. No more coloring pencils all over the place and at the bottom of every bag!