ORGANIC FOCUS: Aravore Babies

THANKFULLY - for the guilt riddled among us - the range of organic clothing and blankets for wee ones is on the rise. But one of the originals and the best, is Aravore.

Started by Yanina Aubrey, pictured left with daughter Thea, in 2005 in collaboration with her sister Norah, the collection is entirely made by hand in London, where Yanina and her family is based, and in Asuncion, Paraguay, one of the areas where Yanina and Norah grew up.

Here, the sisters gradually developed an appreciation of the handcraft skills around them, thanks to their high-achieving economist mother, who could also produce “the most glorious summer dresses” according to Yanina, and a grandmother who taught the sisters to crochet, knit and sew on an ancient Singer. Finally, with the birth of Yanina’s firstborn, (”there was no knitwear available in organic cotton at the time and very little in organic merino wool”), they decided to launch a fashion range for kids that didn’t just make use of traditional South American skills, but was intended to help local women carve out a living for themselves, and support Paraguay’s ethical farming developments. Today, apart from employing over thirty knitters and seamstresses in their workshop in Asuncion (and five in London), the company has helped mothers and those unable to travel to the workshop to develop mini workshops at home - and offered basic business training too.

All that good stuff is before we even get to the clothes. These are a refreshing, slightly retro, heirloom quality clothing and blankets for babies and small children (£15-£110), such as ruffled cotton rompers and embroidered dresses, where there’s not a logo, ‘clever’ slogan or cartoon character in sight. Instead there’s a focus on tactile knitwear.

This, says Yanina, is not just because hand-knitting and crochet is a particular skill area of Asuncion, but because: “There is something quite wonderful about knitwear. It’s very tactile, very emotional in some ways. People get attached to their knitwear and that of their children in a way that rarely happens with other items of clothing.”

Yanina, who is inspired by influences as diverse as the Arts & Crafts Movement, and the Japanese appreciation of subtle colour and understated design, wanted to pick up on this emotional aspect. “Really, the most important thing for me was to create a children’s range, not a range that mimicked an adult one, but one that was infused by the playfulness, the fun and the beauty of childhood - not something that screamed design but something that told stories, that was unique and had the appeal of having been made by a human being rather than an automated production line.”

The approach is reminiscent of a slightly nomadic, hippie lifestyle, which might sound familiar to those of us who grew up in the 70s and early 80s, and are keen to channel a little of that sense of freedom and carefree-ness into our own children’s lives. (And indeed it may come as little surprise that Aravore means ”a piece of the sky” or “piece of time/heaven” in Guarani, (a language native to Paraguay and parts of Argentina and Brazil)).

Certainly this is true of Yanina, who says her own childhood was “fairly bohemian. We moved countries and houses often because of my mum’s job, so there was always something new and interesting happening. Home-life was fairly unconventional, slightly chaotic with no routines of any sort! But it was also very stimulating, with lots of books, travelling and animated conversations over dinner. I am the oldest of four girls and I seem to remember always being in the middle of organising a project - very much like now! - rehearsing a little play, launching a community newspaper or building a whole neighbourhood of doll houses out of old wooden fruit boxes…”

Luckily for 33-year-old Yanina, she still gets chance to visit Paraguay for long research stretches with her children Thea, 4, and Ethan, 2, each year - combining business visits to farmers and each part of her organic cotton supply chain with an enviable-sounding family life. “I love the food and the weather. I also like the fact that things are a lot more relaxed there, people take their time to do things and on the whole, I think they tend to enjoy themselves more and worry about things less. My children LOVE the place. But then they get so much attention from everybody, that it couldn’t really be otherwise…”

*Find Aravore Babies at their north London shop in Crouch End (31 Park Road, N8 - +44 (0)20 8347 5752) at Harvey Nichols, or online at www.aravore-babies.com; also see the website for a growing number of international retailers.