We are so thrilled to see our designer, Alex Riggs featured on Kochie's Business Builders. Read on to see how winning the City of Sydney Excellence in Small Business, and the Business of the Year awards in 2011 helped establish Oobi as a powerhouse small business!

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Childhood is a time where everything is possible. Where every day something is there to be discovered or learned. And it's something magical, because even the simplest things are special because they're new and exciting.

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Hi Everyone, 

We have an exciting new site! Yay!

We want make it a fantastic experience for you, and we've also updated our blogs and Oobi World (our community page) so that you can find out what we're up to on a more regular basis. 

Thanks for visiting my own personal blog too. I'm Alex, and I started Oobi almost 15 years ago at Glebe Markets. I'm a screen-printer, illustrator and designer and I'm a passionate writer and blogger too. And anyone who knows me knows that I love to chat. So, here I am bending your ear. 

Check out my "Paris Story" - the inspiration for the designs and photos behind our new Autumn 2016 range. The pretty colours should ease you into the colder months. 

Thank you everyone for your feedback and support, it's amazing to feel so part of a wider Oobi community of mums, writers, bloggers and designers too. We really value your comments so feel free to say "Hi" any time!

Love,

Alex (and Toast my dog) xox

I woke up in Paris to this... 

(My Oobi 'Toffee Apple' quilt in my Parisian bedroom. Ooh la la!)

Ok, Ok, don't hate me. It's not like that just rolled off the tongue...

It's pretty nice to open your eyes in a new city (and in a room as beautiful as this one) and have a little bit of home comfort. I don't always travel with an Oobi quilt but this was a special occasion.

I was invited to showcase Oobi's range to some retailers in Paris so I took this opportunity to take some beautiful Oobi pieces with me and do a mini shoot in Paris. 

It seemed right to shoot the "Lilac & Lemonade" range in Paris. I used to do a lot of sourcing in that beautiful city, traipsing the markets for antique buttons and trims, laces and fabrics for my vintage collections. I love it.

My French is, well, it's merde, frankly. Good thing I know how to talk with my eyes...

(shame I can't just eat with my eyes too... #cheesecoma)

Anyway, I'll share the inspiration behind "Lilac and Lemonade" and some of our pretty Paris photos too over the next few days. 

Hope you love it.

 Belle Dress and Lilac & Lemonade Quilt... Livin' Large in Paris!

Pretty & delicate Smocking... You can see why this range needed to be shot in Paris (needed... yeah).

Zoe Dress in the Baby Size (with nappy cover) - and marshmallows. Yes, the French do do it better. Theirs are lilac coloured - and square!

When I was a little girl my favourite uncle came to visit us. He was born in Russia but lived in Paris and he always brought bonbons and perfume and all kinds of exotic things that Bondi girls like me didn't see much of.

That was back in the days where travel wasn't quite so simple... You didn't just Google Search, pick a flight and go. Travel was something you planned for - for at least a year.

That kind of travel, and men like uncle Jules don't exist anymore. The kind of man that polished his shoes every morning and wore white trousers for a walk on the beach.

Jules would always find a coin behind my ear (wizard!) and was never too busy talking to the grown-ups that he wouldn't make time for us kids. He'd say "thank you for rescuing me from the adults, I've been wanting to play My Little Pony all night".

Life was fun when Jules was around. Everyone behaved a little better, the household chaos seemed a little less chaotic and nobody ate dinner in front of the telly.

When it was time for him to go back to Paris, Jules gave my mother a bunch of pink roses and he gave me a bunch of lilacs.

I'd never seen lilacs before and I will never forget how they smelled... To this day they bring back the most vivid memories of an elegant, gentle and kind man giving me my first bunch of flowers.

Your first gift of flowers is a heartbreaking lesson because they are ephemeral - and after a few days they wilt and die. You want them to last forever but the physical presence is lost and all that remains are your memories.

But my memories are forever and that bunch of flowers lives forever too, along with Jules and my collection of French coins.