About

Ourooh is a shop of objects made with care, for giving and keeping, run from Edinburgh.

I started Ourooh because the objects I like best are the ones chosen slowly. A notebook sewn by hand, one section at a time. A card set still printed on a letterpress. A small leather purse with a clasp that closes with a sound. Others like them, all through the shop. They are not easy to find in one place. So I made one.

I ask four questions of every object before it earns its place. Would I keep it myself? Would I give it to someone I love? Is it hard to find here? Can I name the hand behind it? If yes to all four, it comes in. I look in other towns and other countries, and work with independent makers and small studios. Sometimes a piece comes from a place you have never heard of. I keep the shop small on purpose. I would rather show you twelve things worth keeping than a hundred worth scrolling past.

Behind every object here there is a person and a process I can name. Some are made by hand from start to finish. Others begin in an artist's hands and are then made up carefully by a small workshop, and where that is true I say so on the product page. That is where the judging starts, not where it ends. After that come the maker, the town, the finish, and whether the piece has any character of its own.

A parcel from Ourooh is a gentle thing. Soft cream paper against the object, kraft around it, sealed with a plum O. I write the note by hand, even though I own a printer. No prices inside, so it arrives ready to give, though keeping it is allowed.

I am Mohssen. I live in Edinburgh, one of the most beautiful cities I have found. My background is in graphic design, and it still decides how I look at colour, proportion, material and edge. I choose the objects, photograph them, write about them and pack every order here.

I look at everything the same way. I can watch the Milky Way, or a dandelion, for longer than makes sense. I do not fully understand the beauty around me. I would like to be a small part of it. Ourooh is how I try.

Ourooh is pronounced OO-roo.

For questions about an object or an order, write to hello@ourooh.co.uk