Marion Gubbens is an exceptional, Dutch artist with terrific skills and imagination. She creates all sorts of critters - as she is fond of calling them - by hand sewing and needle felting. She lives with her wonderful family, husband, three kids, a perky little dog and some chickens, in a small village in the Netherlands.
As a child she loved to draw and write, lots of stories of teddybears where created. When she stumbled on bear-making she tried to create a bear looking like one from her stories. One such story describes and accompanies each of her bumi-bear and bumi-bunny creations:
Between de high trees in big goblinforest. You'll find some very little houses in the middle of the moss. It's a village for the Bumi's. Bumi's are as old as the goblins. They're a cute little bearbreed and the best helpers goblins could find. Bumi's love to help. They bring good luck and happiness. They're just like a lucky charm. Everybody has his or hers personal bumi. A friend for live. They'll protect you, just like a guardian angel. But be careful what you wish for... they don't protect you against your own foolishness. Bumi’s are the best friends you can have. Good luck with your own little bumi.
