The Journey to Nura…

The Journey to Nura…

October 13, 2016

Do you often have those moments in your life when you completely forget the process you went through to accomplish something? Simply moving on to the next step in the journey without reflecting on the massive decisions and big (or little) wins you have just made!?

This is exactly what happened in my process of naming my business, Nura. Now, Nura feels so familiar, but I’ve completely blanked on the endless weeks, if not months, of my indecisive, back and forth ways…..

Originally my business idea was to have a boutique store for mums to bring their babies, have a coffee, do some work, read a book, buy beautiful things and simply have a comfortable space to be and feel supported. The name of this store was Lemon & Lime. But the more research I did and the more numbers I crunched, this store became further and further out of my reach. And further and further out of my realm of knowledge and expertise.

 

child spring sunset

Back then my knowledge of the fashion industry was not quite up to scratch, but my expertise in the love of gift-giving and being generous to my beautiful family and friends was something I understood a bit better. Having just entered an age where some of my closest friends have had little bubs, I wanted to give them something extra special that no one else had thought of or seen. And then earlier this year my first and super special little niece, Alice, was born. And my second little niece or nephew is so close to being born I can already feel the love bursting out of me.

For Alice and my next little niece or nephew I want to buy absolutely everything for! I find myself wandering through shops all the time for something gorgeous and unique that isn’t seen on every second child, something that has the wow factor when it is opened. Thus the creation of my clothing line; 100% Australian made, fabric inspired by Australia and painted by Australian artists, and classic, tailored designs for little boys and girls.

 

mother and child sunset

Now that this was decided, the name had to reflect all the vision and love that was behind my idea. First came Oolie, it was instant love with this name. It apparently means gumtree in an Aboriginal dialect, but what dialect that is, still to this day I have never been able to find out. I contacted every linguistic professional at many Australian universities, libraries and community centres. I googled until I could google no more. I’m even ashamed to admit to stalking a man on Facebook called Oolie Amos to see where his name originated from (surprise, surprise I didn’t hear back from him). With no firm answers, I felt using an Aboriginal word without knowing its true origin was disrespectful.

And so this led to my next discovery of one of the most beautiful words (and meanings) in the world, Ubuntu. This South African word embodies the vision behind my business ‘For the Joy of Giving’. Ubuntu quite simply means ‘the belief that we are defined by our compassion and kindness towards others’.

My obsession with this word and belief in generosity continues, but of equal importance to me and my brand is the celebration of Australia, and with Ubuntu being South African it seemed quite ill-fitting to use.

family photo

And so after way too many sleepless nights of dreaming of Aboriginal words, bruised arms and worn out shoes from carrying Aboriginal dictionaries back and forth to the library and numerous downloads of language apps, I came to the end of the journey; Nura.

Nura is a word from the Sydney language, the traditional language of the Darug and Eora people. Nura means ‘country’. For Indigenous Australians ‘country’ encompasses culture, nature and land; it takes in everything from landscapes, plants and animals to cultural practices, people, stories and art. My aim for Nura is to celebrate all things beautiful about our country and encompass all these concepts of culture, nature and land into the aesthetic of the fabrics and into the values of the business.

And that is the long and windy journey that brought me to Nura!!! I’m really excited to share this passion with you. I hope you love the designs and styles as much as I do.

Please keep in touch through the comments below, via Instagram @nura_australia or email info@nuraaustralia.com. Look forward to hearing from you.

Love Penny xxxx

* Images courtesy of https://brightside.me/