Amelie Peraud, 37, taught French until her unique take on baby apparel proved popular among both Chinese and foreigners. To make the transition from teacher to designer, she opened Tang'Roulou in Beijing in 2004 selling baby clothes and accessories that incorporated traditional Chinese elements. She was joined three years later by another French teacher Pierre-Yves Babin, 36. She talks about why their designs have found such a large following in the capital and online.
Were you two trained professionals in fashion design?
When I was in France, I didn't have any experience in design. Three years after I came to Beijing, in December 2002, I started to design some blankets to offer to my pregnant friends in France because I wanted to give them a personal gift, not one you just buy in a store. I live in a hutong and many people brought their blankets out into the sun, and I liked the designs. My friends liked my gifts and encouraged me. Then I opened a little shop near the Drum Tower in 2004, and little by little I made a small collection. Pierre and I started working together in 2007, and he was not professionally trained either.
What makes your baby products unique in their designs?
Our inspiration comes from China, but we are also influenced by our French background. We also like vintage things a lot. Different elements are put together so it's difficult to say which parts are from China and which parts are French. For example, in China, babies don't use sleeping bags, but in France we use them a lot. So we make sleeping bags that use Chinese elements. The idea for the inscriptions on Bao Bao [the name of the sleeping bags, which means 'baby'] came from someone we know in the hutongs who embroidered the name of his grandson on a blanket, and we followed that. Another example is the dark colouring of a shirt we made. People in China say they don't put dark colours like black on children, only bright colors; but in France you see dark colours used more.
Who are your customers?