Our current team at OOMA is tiny but mighty.

Kathleen Robins and Sanne Slooten

My name is Kathleen Robins and I am the founder and fearless leader at OOMA. I am from Canada originally but made my home in New Zealand in 1995. Apart from about 6 years away in Brazil and Canada I have been here ever since.

My path to OOMA has had many twists and turns but it started with a chance meeting when I was living and working in Sydney. I met a silversmith at the Paddington Market and this inspired me to take a silversmithing course on my return from my year of backpacking around New Zealand and Australia at 23. I have always been creative and a maker, having turned my hand to most things artistic including bone-carving, flax weaving, book-binding, paper-making, printmaking, photography, pottery, and painting in oil, acrylics, and watercolour.

At 26, I returned to university to study Architecture in Halifax, moving from my home in Edmonton. When I graduated, I went travelling again and decided while I was back in New Zealand that I would try to gain Residency in New Zealand when I returned to Halifax. On my return to Canada after that year travelling, I started my full time jewellery design business. I built a very successful business called Earratic Designs and a dedicated clientele over the next 5 years but it was time to avoid winter and I embarked on my adventure in New Zealand.

I settled initially in Opononi but that was an experiment in "city girl meets the bush"! The bush won. While living in Opo and making jewellery full-time, I embarked on a road-trip to finds shops and galleries that were interested in my work. From the top to the bottom of both the North and South Islands and most points in between, it was a hugely successful trip and numerous galleries took me onboard. 

After a couple years in the Far North, I was talking with a friend about moving and she suggested Napier. I did a road trip in 1999 and thought "yes, Napier it is". Relocating to the Art Deco City of Napier meant looking for a house big enough to house my business too. I found a total wreck of a house, a villa, and in between making jewellery and establishing a new life, myself and a fabulous builder, renovated my house into the most beautiful home. Kathleen Robins Jewellery Design was housed in a gorgeous sun-filled room in that beautiful villa until the next chapter began.

Sanne Slooten makes up the rest of the team. She is a fabulously talented woman and I have been lucky to have her on my team over the years. Originally, she had no experience in merchandising jewellery and accessories but she was a very quick study. Sanne is an expert at making OOMA look amazing from the outside with her enticing window displays and inside she creates eye-catching displays with the many treasures at OOMA. 

In her own words: