Website update

**our website is closed today for updates. please check back on 7/31 to see what's new!

Check out Oishii on Couturious

Our cosis are featured on Couturious.com, a website where you can create outfits on electronic "paper dolls" using apparel and accessories for amazing established and independent designers. Check out some looks featuring our Cosis by clicking here!

what an honor!

Super honored to be TwitterMom of the Month for May... click here to check out our feature!

atomic garden, oakland

new collection at atomic garden, oakland.
many beautiful pieces for children and a few for women too! when you go, tell them Oishii sent you...

www.atomicgardenoakland.com
5453 College Ave, Oakland CA 94618

new kid's cardigans

new kid's cardigans with antler buttons... the buttons are sustainably harvested in oregon (and they're absolutely gorgeous, mais oui)

Home Green Home...

We had an amazingly wonderful and wonderfully exhausting time at the Green Festival.

Connected with many friends - some new & some seasoned - and shared our craft with our Bay Area neighbors. What a success!

Thanks to all that popped into our temporary studio for a visit. Your sweetness and your smiling faces are super inspiring - I do hope you will stay in touch.

Sending giggles, cuddles, and yummy soft goodness to one and all!

Oishii Handmade at the SF Green Festival - April 10 & 11, 2010

Come see me design and knit new pieces for our summer collection at the SF Green Festival this Saturday and Sunday.

Our booth is a lean, green, fully functioning mini-studio. This is your chance to be a part of the behind the scenes magic of Oishii Handmade!

booth 225 in Eco-Fashion

http://www.greenfestivals.org/san-francisco-spring/

Teach a girl to fish or give a girl a fishstick?

I have been researching how to grow Oishii into a bigger socially, environmentally, and financially sustainable venture and again and again am returning to the saying:

"Give a man a fish and he eats for a day. Teach a man to fish and he eats for a lifetime."

We created our personal development program based on this principle. And after many conversations with artisans and small business owners, I started to wonder - "What if our schools taught kids to fish instead of giving them fishsticks?"

(I'm not being super literal here... I know it's no longer 1988)

Think about it:

Give a girl a fishstick and she learns:

* To take what she is given or make do with side dishes
* To depend on others to do the heavy lifting (catching, cleaning, preparing, packaging, shipping, reheating, and serving)
* To make her greatest choice at the end of the process - "yes" or "no" to tartar sauce

Teach a girl to fish and she learns:

* How to strategize to get what she wants
* To hone her skills through trial and error
* That cleaning, gutting and cooking a fish can be terribly messy but there is a method to the madness if you are willing learn it

Best of all, she has a better understanding of what is in a fishstick - how much time, energy, training, and resources have gone into that breaded beauty. That despite appearances, the making of a fish stick is a pretty complex process.

At Oishii, we are all about learning to fish. We hope you are a fisher(wo)man in training as well.

*photo courtesy of artist mimi kirchner - www.mimikirchner.com

The heart of the matter

When I was around 10 or 11, I used to play a pretty elaborate game of make believe with my cousin. I was the owner of a catalog business and she was my employee.

We had a seasonal catalog, an extensive filing, repeat customers with whom we cultivated ongoing relationships, and a really awesome calculator to do all of my super important calculations (of course). I would say "My business is incredibly important; I've got the President's ear on this one."

I believe the games children play are the seeds of the future dreams and ambitions. That as children we already know what we were born to do. I have taken on the challenge of reigniting those childhood games in my daily life through Oishii, and am working my tail off to see if I can eventually get the "President's ear" on this one.

Sure, we sell lovely knit goodies that feel like you're wearing a hugs - but our greatest offering is our hope, our enthusiasm, and our undying persistence to be the change we want to see in the world.

Are you willing to join us?

New friends, new year!

Well, I am back in the saddle and the year has started off with a bang! Oishii received a hefty dose of press from some lovely blogs + websites over the holidays and I didn't realize it until the dust settled. We are so excited to become better acquainted with each new friend in the new year!

So, without further ado, allow me to introduce you to the first new site I am smitten with... Ecouterre!

Our wooly Cosi capelet (pictured above) was featured in Ecouterre's Green Gift Guide in December alongside some lovely goodies for keeping you warm through the shortest days of the year.

Here is who they are - in their own words:

Ecouterre is a website devoted to the future of sustainable fashion design. We’re dedicated to showcasing and supporting designers who not only contemplate cut, form, and drape, but also a garment’s social and environmental impact, from the cultivation of its fibers to its use and disposal. Our mission: To follow the evolution of the apparel industry toward a more environmentally sound future, as well as facilitate a conversation about why sustainable fashion matters.

Love, love, love the vision and the mission - excited to see what Spring brings!