MiMice- the story

I wasn't here a lot lately. To be honest and real I was absent for good, few months... 

Some of you sweet people follow us on facebook and you know what is going on, but some of you probably wonder why I am not here for so long time. 

I wish to tell you a litle story about what I am doing now. For sure you already noticed my toys. I have alredy shown them few times on blog (like here or here) but I am not sure how much you know about them and about all idea of .
Nevertheless I think I owe you this post:)

Our toys- Mimice are created from love. 

I started to creating them when we realized we were about to become parents. I wished to create some beautiful welcome present for my daughter. In the same time with Joštt we were talking a lot about children, discussing about upbringing and also about toys, books and games which are available in shops. Joštt as a kindergarden teacher (yes! I have this luck to be wife of man who is working in kindergarden!!!) has a lot experiences and observations about the way children play and about influence a toy can have on child behaviour. 

As all parents we wish to give to our child the best we can. Of course we want our daughter to be healthy and happy. We wish that she develops well and become smart and intelligent girl and woman. But above all we want her to grow into compassionate, good and loving person. We soon discovered a common issue, which was the absence of toys that would support the emotional development and imagination of our children. We also noticed an absence of heroes with strong characters that would inspire our children with great positive messages.

This was our turning point. 

For our daughter and for every other child, we decided that we were going to create good toys with positive characters and great values. 

We joined forces by combining our knowledge, skills and experiences. 

And that is how MiMice were created! :-)

We have big wish that MiMice will take children and their parents to an often forgotten place, a place of love, good self-esteem, self- respect and respect for others and nature. We believe we are creating with them a world that thrives on love.

We want that kind of world to be created in our kindergardens and our homes. We wish that all children are given the freedom to explore their imagination and self-awareness, develop a secure emotional ground and are encouraged to build loving relationships through quality dialogue.

The first little creatures that were sewn by my hands quickly began to touch people's hearts and soon sewing during nights on a borrowed sewing machine just wasn't enough. We decided to expand. We decided to act in the spirit of social Entrepreneurship because we wanted our Mimice to bring a positive message right from the start. For this reason our toys are made by vulnerable groups - hardly employable people. Our partners are organizations who employ people that are disabled, elderly, migrants and recovered addicts.

We wish Mimice to carry good message in every level and we are very proud of our values:

• handmade and unique: every Mimica is handmade and has a unique knitted face
• community: Mimice are made by hand, made by vulnerable groups. They are sewn by the hands of disabled people, migrants and recovered addicts.
• environment: we up-cycle using unused materials and giving them a new, better life.
• safety: all toys can be washed in the washing machine and they don’t have any pearls or buttons that could fall off or be swallowed. Materials are certified and safe.
• local: Mimice have European not Far Eastern orgins. All are sewn in Slovenia with Slovenian materials.
• fair play: fair salaries and safe working conditions.
• communal: our proceeds are reinvested in the local economy
• simplicity: our designs are cute but simple. Mimice are leaving space for children to develop their own imagination around them.
• dialogue: When we develop Mimice’s characters we listen to the desires and needs of both parents and children

Mimice are created from love and this positive energy is spreading through every toy we make.

Och, I forgot about the name: MiMice!

Why MiMice?It is very simple. My name is Maria Magdalena but my friends call me Marysia or simply MiMi (combined from the first letters of my name). And "ninica" is slovene word use for cuddly toy children use to sleep with. Name MiMice sounds obvious and our friends start to use it to named our toys even before it become a brand name!

The story of Mimice has just started. And there is a long way and a lot of challenges waiting for us (and I love challenges). 

There is a lot of great people we've met thanks to MiMice (and I love meeting great people). 

I can not wait what will be next step:)
I believe that with all love and all postitve energy Mimice have around them they will develop into world wide project:)

back soon! xoxoxo!!!

p.s. this great pictures are taken by very talented young photographer Jernej Kokol (click).We had a very nice - photoshooting day with Jernej lately. I so wish to show you more of this great pictures- it will be very soon:)