When we first had a website, 25 years ago, I created a little Blabla section. I found out later that my customers were actually reading it when meeting and talking to them at shows etc. So, in case you're interested, in this section you'll find stories about who we are and what/how we do things. Newest posts are on top.
February 2025
I am currently living in my brother's house in old Utrecht, it's on the canal and a lovely experience, albeit different from being here in the summer time.
We finished the Spielwaren Messe over a week ago; it was the first show in our new stand and although the foot traffic was on the lower side compared to other years, we had a really good show. As always, it is quality not quantity that's important. A number of visitors asked if we were new. No, we've been in Hall 1 for 10 years....ah, we never go to Hall 1. (Plush products). So, a valuable lesson learned, we probably should have moved years ago but we had a good position in Hall 1. Lucky for us, we couldn't expand there anymore and following the advice of a good customer/friend, we moved to Hall 3 and got ourselves a big stand in a great position.
I am super focused on our expansion into the UK and am doing the Childcare Exhibition there at the end of February. (Hence me staying in Europe, flying up and down within 3 weeks is too much!).
Even after 34 years of being in business I still learn new things all the time. I push myself to explore new materials, new ideas and new markets for our products.
The 'new materials' has led me astray a little; I'm very interested in exploring Silicone and Lucite but realized it doesn't really fit into my core business of Papoose Toys. What to do? Start a new business!
LuminoPlay was born over Christmas, yes admittedly I was a little bored with the office being closed, but more so, the quiet time made me re-focus and realize what I needed to do.
In true Renske style, I just got on with it and although it will take a little time to sell out LuminoPlay stock still marked as Papoose Toys, I hope by mid year the full conversion will be made so it is clear for all my customers.
I think a new challenge keeps me on my toes, engaged with my business and, importantly, staying ahead of my competitors that keep copying my products.
Have a wonderful February, I'll check back in a bit later.
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November 2024
When I moved to Bali, I assumed my life would be, you know, a little more relaxed. Haha, well, that never happened! Being away from the office, although talking every day, several times, has given my creativity a shot in the arm...ideas are flowing freely and I am trying to keep up with myself. John has taken it on himself to provide us with food and drinks on a regular basis, he feeds the animals and looks after the garden (that was never my job). That leaves me free to work and play.
I have a spacious studio, filled with light and goodie goodie stuff to play with. We are planning at least three overseas trade fairs in 2025, so will be busy traveling, working and meeting old and new customers/friends.
I have been refreshing the website, one of those jobs you just have to sit down-do it-don't stop until you're finished- kind of jobs.
Keep an eye out on Insta as well for all the new exciting developments happening.
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August 23, 2024
To Fair Trade or not to Fair Trade??
It's interesting how many of my lovely customers are telling me a local company has now become a registered Fair Trade supplier. I checked into Fair Trade registration many years ago; my conclusion at the time was that in order not to deceive customers into thinking we ONLY do Fair Trade products, we would not register our company.
Funnily enough, a lot of our products, including ALL our FELT, is from proper registered Fair Trade suppliers. As is our cotton and some of our wood.
If you know us, you know we work directly with many small, family operated handicraft businesses in Indonesia. Non of those are registered for Fair Trade. We do work fairly with them; many have worked with us for 20+ years, a testament in itself.
So, should we Fair Trade our brand name?
I have actually no idea what that means, so my instinct tells me not to bother. To have a Fair Trade brand but to sell non-Fair Trade products......nah, that's not for me. (is it still Fair Trade when products are directly copied from my range?)
What do you think?
:-)
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August 2024
We showed at Kids in Style in Melbourne. It was fun, a small show but lots of nice (re)connections. Our new ranges were well received.
Our next showing won't be until January, when we head towards Nurnberg for the Spielwaren Messe. We have been given a new location at the show, in Hall 3. Although we've always done well in Hall 1, where we've been since we started showing in Nurnberg, Hall 3 is really where we should have been. We will have a lovely big new stand of 52m2, right next to Haba. We're looking forward to this new challenge and opportunity.
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May 2024
In pursuit of excellence, originality and creative ideas a new collection is being brewed... collectively know as SIT, this brand new range will incorporate our 'normal' materials of wool, wood, and more recently resin and papermache, and in the near future, rattan as well.
This range ,as indicated, will include seats for little ones, combining felt and wood and papermache and YES bright beautiful colours. I'm so happy colour is making a come-back. Love naturals and neutrals, absolutely adore colour!
I will keep you posted via Instagram. Can't wait to show you what we are cooking up for you.
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January 2024
Steaming ahead into the new year; I am firmly committed to make so many new and wonderfully original products that the couple of companies in Australia copying everything, or just about, we do, are being left in our airstream, flabbergasted! There are so many wonderful ideas one can come up with and the non-stop being copied is tiresome. However, I feel my strength is the development of new ideas, not just product but also using 'new' materials. With a firm resolution to keep using sustainable materials, natural where possible, I am extending our range into some not-before-seen products and materials.
We are also truly working with Fair Trade out of Nepal and Sri Lanka, not 'green-washed' but traceable and real.
Sometimes our prices may be slightly higher than the same items others are copying; this is because we actually really work with certified Fair Trade, don't argue with our suppliers, never beat them down on price and always look for quality.
I firmly believe our products are better, better designed and better made; we are strict with designing in such ways that the compliance for safety is not an issue.
I don't often flaunt our credentials, as I always believe our work should speak for itself. But we are a special company, taking great care in whom we work with and what materials we source. I respect our suppliers, our customers, our end -users and above all, our staff that makes everything possible.
Did you know we exist 33 years!
I have seen a number of huge and not so huge but well-known retailers come and go, we are still working hard, being successful, creating value for all our stakeholders, and I am very proud of this.
I'd like to wish you an adventurous 12 months, full of discovery, excitement and happy coincidences.
Talk soon, much love
Renske
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November 2023
Selamat Pagi...or good morning to you :-)
We have now officially moved to live in Bali, working remotely. I feel so very fortunate and modern to be able to work like this.
We moved in October and are settling in, whilst waiting for our new house to be built.
We could not do this without our amazing staff, the warehouse in Melbourne is operating as before and from your point of view not much has changed.
Of course, I keep in touch every day with the office, Facetime and Whats-app are amazing free inventions which make all this possible as well.
Yes, the body knows we're in paradise (regular dips in the pool, fresh fruit galore and of course warm weather every day) but the head needs to follow, and this takes a bit of time. To fully realize you're now full time Bali-er, needing to learn new skills, finding where to get 'things' and to make sure you're not acting as if on an extended holiday :-)
We 'road-tested' being away for about 12 months; traveling quite a lot to see if any issues would pop up in the warehouse and office. To their credit; nothing did.
So, for now: I wish you well, from Bali. We hope to see you at some of the trade fairs we're doing next year,
Renske
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July 2023
Hi!
As promised I'll tell you a bit more about the changes that are happening.
Tada....
Colours of Australia is now officially Papoose Toys Pte Ltd!
What does this mean for you? Only a couple of things:
1) The website name has changed to Papoose Toys
2) Australian customers will pay into a new Australian account, the details are as follows:
Papoose Toys Pte Ltd
BSB 013-943
Account number: 612 577 191
That's all, maybe slightly disappointing? It has taken a lot of behind the scenes work to make the change, but it's done now and we are happy.
:-)
Our fabulous product development stays the same, at the forefront of new ideas.
Our fabulous staff will keep doing their very best to keep/make you happy.
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June 29, 2023
The world keeps changing, it's quite something to try and keep up! Travel all back to normal, even Jetstar is not always late anymore...they're still cancelling flights though, such a nuisance.
We have some major changes coming up in the business, will reveal all in the next post.
Product development is going very well, it is very disappointing to see local companies (one in particular, you know who you are!) copying most of our products, even down to the Chinese yum-cha's in the steam basket. You wonder why they don't develop their own ideas...anyway, we focus on the positive: we have very loyal customers that understand the way we work: our products are actually tested and we design them carefully to be fun, educational and safe. We are shortly introducing two new ranges: paper mache and resin. Remember: you saw it here first! :-)
Life is harder for most people; cost of living is going up a lot, especially heating and groceries.
It makes all of us focus on the important things: family, friends, good health.
At least we have freedom of movement again!
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January 12, 2022
It is hard to believe we're still in this super strange situation; whereas I didn't personally know anyone with COVID this has now changed with 2 staff off in isolation and it becoming much more common around us. John and I are keeping ourselves as safe as possible; we're still hoping (are we crazy??) to go to the Nurnberg Fair and are supposed to leave next Friday. traveling has become a stressful event instead of one to look forward to: have I got all the right paperwork/vac's/boosters/arrival forms...the list goes on. In a way it is why I really want to go: we need to break through this complacency, experience the outside world again and learn how to stay safe whilst working abroad. We are both triple vacced so fingers crossed!
We'd like to wish you a healthy, safe and happy New Year.
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September 25, 2021
Despite the being locked down for long periods, time seems to be flying.
We're heading into the crazy part of the year but I'm wondering what it will look like this year.
In Melbourne we've been locked down so long now we set a new record for the city: in total we are the longest, most locked down city in the world. I can tell you from the heart: I'm over it, together with millions of others. It is endless, depressing and every time there's a glimmer of freedom, we're down again.
Whether you're for or against, hurry up people and get vaccinated, obviously our only way back to a life that we all assumed was ours to live.
We've also been affected by freight taking so long (not to speak of the humongous increases in costs). We've had to stand down staff whilst we're waiting for containers to come in; plenty of work to do then.
Nici is our never ending source of fun, entertainment and affection; she's a very cuddly dog, very energetic and super involved in everything we do. I think without her in our life it would have been quite unbearable.
The race is on to get new products on our shelves, we have had quite a growth spurt and have had time to look at our systems, stock levels and I feel we're growing up as a business, better late than never, right!
:-)
It's not all doom and gloom, yes, a lot of people are at least slightly depressed but most of us are also aware that we are lucky compared to so many others that are doing it much harder.
We're hoping the world can turn a corner in 2022, travel comes back, covid is controllable and we can all meet our families and friends again.
Stay strong, with love,
Renske
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February 5, 2021
So far so good, we still have relatively lots of freedom, especially compared to other parts of the world. Here in Melbourne we haven't had much of a summer, it has been predominantly cool, but I quite like that, 20-25 degrees is perfect.
I've been on a roll with product development and am enjoying seeing new ideas come into existence. It's always a bit of a process and doesn't always turn out the way you think but even that then opens you up to new ideas. I have lovely customers that brainstorm with me and a lot of new ideas are being worked on.
The puppy will be 18 weeks this weekend, had her last shots and I'm hoping for some warm weather so we can take her to the beach. Our first Dally loved the water, we often had to trick her to get her out.
We had a huge milestone for our business this week: our first order that filled a 40 foot container, went out to an overseas customer. We now have space in the warehouse to start the next order!
Hope you are well, wherever you are in the world, take care.
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January 1, 2021.
So, the new year has started, I think many people are hoping it will be different from last year. I think it will be a little different but not so much; obviously corona is still around and apparently a new strain from Africa is much more contagious.
We were lucky: we took a little road trip to Brisbane to pick up our new fur baby; Nici our 9 week old Dalmation puppy. We got back just before Christmas, before borders started closing again.
I did forget how much work puppies are but also how much joy she already gives us...the cats probably have a different opinion but are getting used to her. It is the exuberant energy that is confronting for them.
Needless to say, we are already head over heels in love with her.
On the work front we've had to carry on. We had a container come in straight after Christmas. We have a number of large orders waiting for bits and pieces before we can ship them, then we will hopefully have a little space again in warehouse 1. Warehouse 3 is already full.....
I want to wish everyone a very happy New Year, in health, and some wealth and foremost in happiness.
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December 6, 2020.
I moved to Australia in 1981, as a freshly married young woman and found a country that somehow nurtured my creativity. In those years, there were many TAFE courses at very reasonable prices and I did a lot of them: bricklaying, stained glass, wood work. I loved every minute of being able to work with my hands and realised to be happy I needed to keep that as part of my working life also.
So, I started a little business with a friend: we were making children's clothing with removable finger puppets tucked into pockets on the front. We didn't get really far with this adventure but it did push me forward into a creative life.
After divorcing husband 1 (Hi Bert!) and meeting John a few weeks later, marrying him and having the opportunity to go to Art School, (You don't need to work, darling...haha) I finished my Textile degree from Curtin University (WA) in 1991 and started a new adventure in business in the last year I studied: I'd developed a short cut of getting designs onto fabric (It was a heat transfer process: painting on paper then transferring the image to fabric with a heat press) by painting the dyes directly onto the fabric and still heat pressing the colours. (Yes, I'm an Aries, notoriously impatient and totally motivated to find more direct ways to do things).
So Colours of Australia was born. I hand painted scarves by the hundreds and sold them, very nicely packaged, to retailers all over Australia.
:-)
