Melbourne’s We Might Be Tiny rakes in $4m from stylish children’s homewares

This Melbourne woman has sold more than 50,000 of her most popular products and business has boomed during the pandemic.

When Melbourne mum Eleanor Cullen was on maternity leave with her first child she was looking for something stylish to serve up her son’s food but instead was bombarded with TV characters and Disney princesses on kids’ homewares.

The designer decided to take a risk and use $15,000 from the family’s savings to create her own placemat.

She put the design up on Instagram at the end of 2015 and it “went crazy”.

It led to her launching her business We Might Be Tiny, which now stocks more than 32 products, with a bear, bunny and cat a signature part of her brand.

“I love animals and cute things and it’s all from my childhood, so its things I have loved as a child. The products are then centred around the bear, bunny and cat theme and become iconic to the brand,” Ms Cullen told news.com.au.

“I then designed some snack boxes in a similar shape to the bear, bunny and cat, divided plates that suction to the table, suctioned bowls, cutlery sets and moved into kitchenware. So there’s icy pole moulds and freezer moulds and I was working with silicone as it's a great material for kitchenware as well.”

Eleanor with her husband and two kids. Picture: Supplied

The suctioned plates, which sell for between $29 and $32, are her bestsellers with more than 50,000 sold since she launched.

The 42-year-old said they appeal to parents who are looking for a “minimalist design” and the placemats have been so popular among parents she has also had to make adult versions.

“Rather than having characters like PJ Masks or Disney princesses printed on tableware it’s a neutral palette and that kind of thing appeals to mums,” she said.

The side hustle has grown from making $100,000 in the first year to hitting almost $4 million in revenue six years later.

“It was a hobby. I wanted to earn a bit more money and pay off our mortgage and what happened was I ending up selling out and making the money I invested back in one month. I haven’t to reinvest our own money, I am just reinvesting the profits,” she revealed.

The mum-of-two credits the pandemic for boosting sales as people ate at home more with their kids.

It also helped with a new product launched in February, called Stampies, as parents looked for new things to entertain their kids. It’s a playful animal cookie stamp set – that can be used for baking or simply with playdough, said Ms Cullen.

The Stampies set. Picture: Supplied

Each set comes with a stainless steel cookie cutter and a wooden stamper along with the 15 interchangeable featured animal characters from across the world, which have also been given the tick of approval by her “harshest critics” – her kids.

Since she began the business six years ago, she has also seen a flood of competitors offering the silicone plates, particularly in the last year.

“I would say silicone dinnerware is becoming a bit more popular and lots of little business are popping up right now,” she noted.

“The thing that differentiates my business is I’ve designed the product from scratch as opposed to purchasing from a factory. What I found is a lot of people are buying stock standard products that are templated from a factory and sticking their own label on the front.”

Silicone dinnerware is growing in more popularity in the kids space. Picture: Supplied

But next up the mum of a 4 and 7-year-old is moving into an entirely new space for kid’s play, with 10 new products.

“I’ve got a bath book and some bath toys made from the material silicone, which means its dishwasher safe and lends itself to bath toys being thrown into the dishwasher so they are not going to get mouldy,” she said.

“That’s what I find annoying with some of the bath toys they get really mouldy and have holes that trap mould hoping. There are other things like kids sensory toys teethers being released at end of year and textured sensory toys.”

In the new year she is also hoping to launch into Singapore, with the brand already popular in China.

Originally published as Melbourne’s We Might Be Tiny rakes in $4m from stylish children’s homewares