Five Little Elephants

I’ve been following the work of Nina Mistry-Rhoades (aka Five Little Elephants ) over the last few months & have watched her beautiful hand made creations progress really nicely. I thought I would share here adorable work with you on the blog today.

‘Five Little Elephants’ are a range of handcrafted new baby keepsakes, made in the UK, by Nina Mistry-Rhoades. These adorable little elephants come in 3 basic colours of neutral, pink or blue, with a choice of plain or patterned ears. Each one is individually handmade by Nina from soft felt, lightly stuffed and finished off with a co-ordinating hanging ribbon. A perfect unique gift for the nursery!:)

Nina has a great selection of gorgeous hand made creations which you can check out here!

A bit of info about Nina…

Originally from Oldham, moved to Yorkshire to study Textile Design at Bradford College in 1993, Nina studied both woven and printed textiles, but found her passion to be in printed design.

Nina’s 1st love is surface pattern, whether it be on upholstery fabric, wallpaper or wrapping paper “I love the look of repeated and symmetrical patterns, maybe its the mathematician in me! Bright colours are my fave, especially fuchsia and orange. My Indian heritage comes through in my love of bright colours, elephants, oh and (maths again) sudoko!”

Since graduating from Bradford College, in 1996, Nina has worked in design related companies but never as a designer. So, nearly 14 years later, her creative juices are flowing again, with the birth of ‘Five Little Elephants‘. Nina says “Cliched as it maybe, my boys have inspired me. I made my first upcycled one-eyed jumper monsters for them last year and that opened the doors for more handmade creations. My new and ever growing love is handmade plush characters and animals. I’ve spent many a night gazing at all the lovely delights on Etsy! So many ideas, not enough time”.

I asked Nina who she inspired by…

“I heart…
Orla Kiely
Cath Kidston
Neisha Crosland
Bungalow
Osbourne and Little
Designers Guild
and so many others…”

What’s next in the pipeline?…

“The next step for ‘Five Little Elephants’ is to start selling my new products on-line and eventually to expand the brand into a nursery interiors range with my own designed and printed fabric. Watch out Mamas and Papas!!!”

If you are interested in Nina’s work or would like to buy her beautiful products you can email her at:

[email protected]