My name is Miranda and I make these clothes.

My daughter was born during the peak of COVID, and we moved our little family in with my parents to help us through that dark winter. My parents took care of all of us in Chinese fussing and food-making ways, rooted in tradition.

That’s when my mom and dad taught me how to sew. Three generations – my mom, my daughter and I – would hang out in the same room for hours. Physically immobile from recovering, socially isolated from physical distancing - sewing became my resiliency strategy for both. 

Sewing has connected me with generations of my family, from my daughter to my Bak Bak (Great-Grandma). As a new migrant from Toisan, Bak Bak used her low wages as a seamstress to help my dad’s family immigrate to Canada.

nooi brings together this newfound sewing skill with my values and professional work in community engagement and racial justice.

Systemic racism is deeply woven into our society and structures. It benefits some while compounding loss and trauma for others, from the intergenerational pain of residential schools and colonization, to the devaluing of Black lives, to the systemic health inequities COVID illuminated.

nooi is one answer to my questions, 'how can I show up for communities? How can sewing be resistance and resilience, like it was for my family?'

There are so many community organizations doing the work on the ground already. Most, if not all, are underfunded. nooi wants to support them.

It's about intergenerational connection. Wisdom from elders. Community support in parenthood. A celebration of the resiliency of those who give birth and our bodies.

It's also about taking care of communities and grassroots organizations through wealth redistribution.

nooi is about the wavering yet welcomed hope to create a more equitable and just world for our children and all the generations after.