Designer + Maker Philippa Karpas is the mama behind Cosy Mama. The name came about when whilst wearing a fleecy top, her son decided that she was 'Cosy Mama' [instead of just plain ol' Mama!] With such a cute name, that perfectly matches the cosy handmade felted products she had to have it!
Since training as an artist, [BA [Hons] in Fine Art, Painting and a Masters degree in Critical Studies in Visual Art and Theatre] Philippa has continued playing around with materials, texture and colour. This love of material has led to the discovery of felting and the way it's like sculpting with wool. The Cosy Mama baby booties were inspired by Norwegian baby slippers.
Cosy Mama has an eco-friendly ethos, uses UK sourced materials and supports small scale suppliers where possible. Therefore the majority of wool used is British with some 100% organic products also available, made with organic wool from sheep grazing in the Pembrokeshire countryside. Recently supersoft alpaca fibre has been added to the materials used and once again this is British sourced from alpacas born and bred in the UK.
Wet felting and needle felting are the techniques used to hand make Cosy Mama's felted products. If these terms are a bit of a mystery, here's some basic information on what's involved. Wet felting is the process of getting wool fibres to mesh together by using friction and hot soapy water. Cosy Mama uses pure soap made from unrefined olive oil, free from animal testing, artificial colours and perfumes and 100% biodegradable. And needle felting, as the term sounds, is when a felting needle is used to push wool fibres into other felted material at which point the fibres bind together.
Cosy Mama products are made-to-order and each item is lovingly brought to life. If you have any questions about the products or need advice on the baby booties sizing please email: hello[at]cosymama.co.uk
