Hello there and welcome!
My name is Jess Mancuso, an Aussie girl from Melbourne, currently living and making in the Oxfordshire countryside, after spending 15 years in Hamburg, Germany!
I have always taken far too many photos of the world around me and a life-long lover of cats and proud kitty mama to our British Shorthair Minty, who may pop up here now and then. I am constantly in search of cosy cafes with the perfect flat white but you’ll also find me in op shops, book shops, galleries and at craft markets.
Gus and Ollie was founded in Hamburg in 2008.
Each and every product is handmade by me, in my home studio in Oxfordshire, which culminated in being part of the amazing artist-run shop Litil – our little piece of creativity in Ottensen.
Gus and Ollie is the brand name behind my three ranges of handmade delights :
Sketch : Handmade and hand bound notebooks, journals and photo albums. Available in hardback and soft cover formats, bound or concertina, using acid free adhesives, hand torn pages and fabric found in all four corners of the globe. Perfect for sketching, ink and watercolour, as well as jotting down your ideas on the go. Custom sizes, papers and covers are always welcome.
Home : unique, handmade but also practical items for the home. Including wax food wraps in various designs and sizes, hand crocheted washcloths, washable, reusable makeup remover pads, up-cycled glass bottle vases and tiny dome sculptures, to adorn the smallest corners of your home.
Play : one-of–kind sock animals, fabric rattles, taggy giraffes, bibs, brooches and scrunchies. All for the young and those young at heart.
My blog is dedicated to introducing you to the new members of the Gus and Ollie Family, behind-the-scenes happenings in my studio and a little bit of expat living and travelling thrown in for good measure. It’s a mixed bag of my makings, observations and living creatively on the other side of the planet.
I’ll warn you now that it will be photo-heavy, with candid text to match. Colour is my middle name and there’ll be no shortage of colour-love to be found here either.
I can’t wait to share more with you. Check out my Instagram account for daily posts too.
Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing in this journey with me.
Cheers,
Jx
Gus and Ollie 