Hello! We are Naomi and Matt, Gnome and Fox of Gnome & Fox LLC. I am a Holland native and Matt is a transplant that fell in love with West Michigan. We settled down almost 5 years ago in Zeeland, and 1.5 years ago, we welcomed our daughter into the world.

It was an adventure, challenge, and learning experience all tied into one that no one can really prepare you for, no matter how much advice they have to give. Friends and family make up our tight-knit community, and we love and appreciate them more than words can convey.

But even still, my little curly-haired tiny tyrant certainly keeps me on my toes. Now a stay-at-home-mom, I struggle to find outlets for her boundless energy. And as I make friends in the same stage of life as me, I have heard many parents voicing the same thing: we want a convenient place to bring our restless toddlers. We want a place for them to run free without fear of losing them in a crowd or hurting themselves on play structures not designed for them. We want somewhere fun but not overwhelming, somewhere we actually enjoy being, and somewhere that just isn’t our livingroom for the umpteenth day in a row.

We searched for a while before coming up relatively empty-handed, and my husband and I kept thinking, “Why doesn’t someone start something like that here in Holland?” That line of thought eventually led to, “Why don’t we?”

The more we looked into it, the more pieces fell into place. Despite no background in business management, we found our skills and experiences to be oddly well suited to the task of designing Gnome & Fox. With the help of our growing community, we have created everything from a high level business plan to designing some fun stickers.

As we work towards aligning the last few pieces of this puzzle, we look forward to seeing where this adventure leads us in our mission: to create a space where parents and local businesses can connect and support one another, to encourage creative play, and to make a positive difference in our corner of the world.