The “Felt Cuisine” Story …

Hi, and welcome to our Blog…

My name is Hiromi Hughes. Perhaps you have heard about my work, seen some of my work online, or maybe you just stumbled across the site… whatever the case may be, I would like to welcome you to my blog here at “PretendPlayKitchen”

I am a regular mum, wife and craft enthusiast who lives with her husband and two children in Australia. I grew up in Japan and have always had an interest in art, craft and design, and have lived here in Australia since 1991. ….

We got started with the Felt Cuisine series a few years ago when one of my friends had a Daughter who’s birthday was coming up. I was thinking about what to buy for my friend’s daughter, when I decided to get all creative and make something. Something that was different from all the mass produced toys that were everywhere, something that I hoped would inspire her creativity and imagination, and of course something that I hoped she would like…

So I made her a set of pretend play sushi pieces. Being from Japan myself and with my friend and her daughter also being from Japan, I thought that was a good place to start. Well I was pleasantly surprised to see that not only did the daughter love her new pretend play food set, my friend was astonished at how real the pieces looked…

As you can imagine, the word started to leak out and I started being asked by some other friends if I could make some sets for their children… I also started listing my work on eBay and Etsy and things went from there…

Initially I was making and selling the completed sets, starting with sushi, then some cakes, and cute wee tarts etc… They were very popular and they sold well. In fact I remember sending my work to places as far away as the USA, France, Portugal, South Africa etc. It was a wonderful feeling to know that I was helping to put some smiles on the faces of children around the world, but I had a major problem.

You see, there is only one of me, and when I sold a set of my work, I had to sit down and then make it. The pieces are not complicated, but they do take a little bit of time to make. This is of course not a problem if you are making a set for your kids of someone that you love, but when you are making set after set after set after set, it does get very time consuming and labour intensive…

So I continued doing this for a while, but saw that many people were also contacting me asking me how I was able to make such beautiful pieces and they asked if I would be willing to show them how to do it themselves. At this point, the transition began from making and selling my own “Felt Cuisine” pieces of pretend play food, to developing and selling the step by step patterns teaching others how to make them for themselves.

The whole reason that I started the “Felt Cuisine” designs in the first place, was to put some smiles on the faces of some children and stir their imaginations and their creative play. Now that I was able to leverage my time and effort, I am proud to say that right now, we have Mum,s Aunties, Grandma’s, Big Sisters and best friends all over the world in over 32 countries and territories making these designs and spreading some love to those they care about.

It kind of feels weird to know that my designs are being played with by children, in places like rural France, Kenya, Scotland, Portugal, Israel, the Kingdom of Bahrain, in the Maldives, and all throughout the continental United States… but at the same time, it warms my heart to know that I am helping to spread a little joy to children of all ages in places near and far…

For more information about the “Felt Cuisine” series, or for any suggestions or feedback, please do not hesitate to contact us at Info@FeltCuisine.com

Warmest Regards

Hiromi Hughes

Author and Creator of the “Felt Cuisine” series of craft guides
and the Pretend Play Kitchen Blog…