1. Treasured, precious, loved
2. Baby, babe, boo thang
ETHOS;
Baobei is about being authentic (loving who you are and how you may show that aesthetically), knowing how to play (being in touch with our inner child) and fostering a community (believing that energy is passed between all of us).
Our pieces are made-to-order and are designed to be that special item you keep forever or pass onto your baobei. Wear your Baobei as an extension of yourself - whatever it means to you, I wish that it makes you feel wonderful.
HOW IT STARTED;
My parents have been running the same retail store in Wellington, New Zealand for over 20 years. It's not glamorous and they're often victims of racism and violence on the shop floor - because of this, I was never proud of what my parents did for work, because neither were they. As I have learnt to appreciate and fall in love with my culture and upbringing, I wanted to reinvent my story (and theirs) by using deadstock beads from their shop and creating beautiful jewellery.
Since then, I have used up majority of the dead stock beads and have brought my designs to life with New Zealand sourced beads.
COMMUNITY & COLLABORATION;
Each collection is brought to life by a team of creatives who share our core ethos of being authentic, knowing how to play and fostering a community. From make up artists, models, photographers and videographers, we work with inspiring people who create cool things, have fun and have a flare in their work.
The core of Baobei is also running community events and workshops for Asian Women in Business. We have worked with other Asian owned businesses such as Fankery, Bare Beauty Studios, Zangria, Moustache Cookies, Loclaire, Thea Matcha, Esse Label and Evil Twins Coffee. We have also collaborated with community based business such as The Viaduct Harbour, Hello Beasty and Studio One.