Our Story

A longing for days long passed for myself, but carefully unfolding before my eyes for my own children.

As a little girl, I was always disappearing into Stories. I would draw characters, forests, cottages and little maps, then spend hours turning them into games with my younger brother and childhood friends. We made worlds out of blankets, blocks, leaves and sticks, we had medieval weapons forged by wood carvers at fairs. I never really outgrew that part of myself.

When I became a mother, I noticed how quickly childhood can become noisy, flashing and overfilled. I found myself searching for toys that left room for children to add something of their own. A rainbow could become a bridge, a cave, a market stall or a dragon’s home. A basket of loose parts could become an entire world.

The beautiful wooden toys, open ended play pieces and handmade treasures I was collecting for my own children slowly became the beginning of Shoppe Soie.

This shop is not run by a warehouse or a team of marketers. It is run by me, usually with a takeaway cup of matcha nearby and children building something at my feet. I choose every piece as a mother first. I still choose stock the same way I choose things for my own children: slowly, sometimes obsessively, and only if I can imagine it being loved for years rather than days.

Alongside carefully chosen brands carefully curated among our shelves, I also hand-make items of my own. Making them feels a little like stitching pieces of the stories I once carried as a child into something children can then make their own. A small gift, in the hopes that imagination and endless hours of creativity are inspired from.

Shoppe Soie is for children, parents, grandparents and everyone in-between who care deeply about what the little people in their lives hold in their curious little hands and still believe in magic.

Thank you for being here, for supporting a small New Zealand family business, and for choosing to fill your child’s world with a little more wonder.

Tamsin ♡