Mama Organiser was born out of a mixture of necessity and midnight inspiration during my many nights awake with a new baby. From the time my son was born to when he started eating solids at 6 months old, I was in a ceaseless search for the right products to fit my need to live as minimalist and clutter-free as possible. This was a by-product of having lived in tiny houses for several years and wanting to manage the day-to-day tasks of parenting with ease, so I could focus on enjoying being with my child. I also dreaded the thought of having to fill our small space with excessive amounts of baby gear!
As every mother knows, being a new parent means you have days when you’ve slept little, there’s baby food in your hair, or you’re rushing out the door and forget to pack enough nappies! Often there’s that unspoken element as well, where you feel on some level that the identity you once had is getting lost in your newfound lifestyle as a mother. I wanted to ensure that all the essentials could be taken care of without cramping one’s style or forcing one to replace things they already owned and enjoyed with cumbersome “necessities.”
So, I decided to create a series of parenting kits and nifty helpers that would take the guesswork out of what was needed for the changing stages of babyhood. This would make it easier to do the small and relentless parts of being a parent, like changing nappies in public or food preparation and feeding. I wanted to create a brand that every kind of parent could get behind, whether they preferred to carry a Chanel handbag or a Kathmandu rucksack! Inspired by one of my all-time favourite quotes, “where there is love, nothing is too much trouble and there is always time”, I also wanted Mama Organiser to be a mechanism by which I could let every parent who ordered a product know that they mattered. I wanted them to know that they were valued and that I saw them for the hard-working, self-sacrificing and warmhearted people they were, for they were doing the toughest job on earth!
Design-wise, Mama Organiser needed to be coherent, from the logos on a nappy bag pouch to the wheels on a natural wooden roller toy. Not being a designer myself, but knowing how I wanted people to feel, I simply started with a pastel palette and played with colours and drawings. Voilá! the result was a fun, playful and yet contemporary theme that I could thread throughout the product materials, packaging and website designs.
Top tip: Never forget: the person that knows your brand the best is you! Pascale’s strategy of playing around with different colors and shapes is a great way to start figuring out your brand image as a new business.
In a time where consumerism and waste are at their peak, I believe it’s essential that all of us play our part in taking care of our planet. Imagine a world where all companies promoted products that were sustainable, long-lasting, earth-friendly and could be repurposed in some way – it would be an unstoppable wave of change. Anyone who takes the time to package their wares carefully and beautifully without single use-plastic always gets my vote!
I thought about all the products I’d purchased in preparing for motherhood and not one arrived packaged in this way, and it really pained me. I couldn’t believe I had strived for so long to create products that would last for many years, serving many children or purposes, only to be let down by packing them up in plastic bubble wrap and ugly courier bags! So, the search for something different began.
Top tip: Your packaging is a very important part of your brand image! If you want to pitch yourself as a sustainable company, it can’t just be talk. Sustainable packaging is a tangible commitment to being both a socially and environmentally responsible company. You can read more about sustainable solutions on our blog.
Enter, noissue. I honestly couldn’t believe my luck when I came across this company! Not only could I ensure my products arrived safely without the use of plastic; I now have a whole packaging system that’s in total alignment with the ethos of my brand - to be beautiful, sustainable and able to be recycled or repurposed. I also wanted parents to know that I had taken the time to care for them, to put thought and love into packaging up their items. So that when they received them, they felt excited, special and a little bit pampered, like they’d just come from a spa or received a surprise gift from a loved one.
I’m so pleased to be able to share Mama O’s parenting kits with the world and to help take the hassle out of everyday tasks, all the while helping people and the planet to feel a little more loved!