Meet Erin

The story behind ORIONIX GLOBAL.

Erin Parker · Founder & Creator of ORIONIX GLOBAL

Hi, I’m Erin.

ORIONIX started because I realised something slightly embarrassing about the way I was spending my free time.

I worked on a screen.
I answered messages on a screen.
I watched something while eating dinner.
And then, when the day was finally mine, I would sit on the sofa and spend another hour scrolling through my phone.

I kept telling myself I was relaxing. But most evenings, I couldn’t remember a single thing I’d actually done.

Erin Parker, founder of Orionix Global, sitting outdoors in a green jumper — “I wanted something different. Not another goal. I simply wanted a hobby.”Erin Parker

Something different

I simply wanted a hobby.

Not another productivity system.
Not another goal.
Not another thing I needed to be good at.

The first thing I tried was crochet. My first attempt was terrible. But there was something strangely satisfying about it.

For almost an hour, I hadn’t checked my phone.

I had just been sitting there trying to make one little square. And when I finally finished it, imperfect as it was, I had something in my hands that hadn’t existed an hour earlier.

That feeling stayed with me.

Attempt no. 1 · crochet

Some yarn
A hook
Absolutely no idea what I was doing

The result:

The edges weren’t straight.
The tension was all over the place.
Whatever I was making looked nothing like the photograph I had followed.

One wonky little square. Kept it anyway.

Then I started trying other things

None of these hobbies became a business. That was the point.

One weekendCinnamon rollsBaked from scratch, for no reason at all.

Another eveningEmbroideryA needle, some thread and a lot of patience.

ThenCandle makingWax, a scent I liked, a jar I already had.

LaterA creative journalPhotographs, tickets, little notes and unnecessary pieces of paper I couldn’t throw away.

I was spending time doing something simply because I enjoyed doing it. And I realised how rare that had become.

The biggest surprise

I wasn’t naturally creative.

For years I had described myself as someone who “wasn’t artistic.” But the more things I tried, the more I realised that creativity wasn’t some mysterious ability you either had or didn’t have. It was practice.

CrochetMy fifth square looked better than my first.
BakingMy third loaf was better than my first.
CandlesThey stopped looking strange.
EmbroideryIt became cleaner.

Not because I suddenly discovered a hidden talent. Because I repeated things.

Skills are learned. They aren’t gifts handed to a lucky few.

The same problem, every time

But starting was unnecessarily difficult.

Whenever I wanted to try something new, I ran into the same wall.

Tutorials assumed I already knew the vocabulary.
Videos skipped basic steps.
Supply lists included twenty things I wasn’t sure I needed.
Beginner guides spent so long explaining theory that I still hadn’t actually made anything.

I didn’t want to become an expert. I just wanted someone to tell me four things.

My notes · the only four questions

What do I actually need?
What does this word mean?
What should I make first?
What am I probably going to get wrong?

Simple instructions. Basic materials. Little projects that could actually be finished. Those notes became the first ORIONIX guides.

Why ORIONIX

You just needed to know where to look.

Most of my hobbies happened in the evening.

Work finished
Phone down
Music on
Something on the table

On clear nights, I could see part of the sky from my apartment, and Orion became something I recognised without even thinking about it. I liked that. You didn’t need to understand the entire night sky to find it.

You don’t need to know the whole way. You just need one point to start from.

That’s what I wanted ORIONIX to become for creative hobbies: a simple place to start. You don’t need to know everything about crochet before making your first square. You don’t need to be an artist before picking up an embroidery needle. You just need a first step.

The collection