Featured Artists: Interview with Nico and Candy Robertson

Nico and Candy Robertson are a creative duo well-known Down Under for their adorably simple board book series Roobee Roo. But you might not know their work! So I'm thrilled to introduce them to you here.

Hi, Nico and Candy! You’re known for the Roobee Roo board book series in Australia and New Zealand. Could you tell me a bit about Roobee Roo? I know it’s not just books – you’ve created adorable merch, as well! When did it get started, and how is it out in the world now?

Roobee Roo has always been about curiosity, first experiences, and a little bit of magic. She’s a funny, energetic kangaroo with a magical pouch and every morning she wakes up to discover something new inside it. Whatever she finds helps shape her day, whether it’s trying something for the first time, heading out on a small adventure, or working out how she feels.

At its heart, the series captures that familiar childhood excitement of waking up and wondering what the day might hold.

The idea began in 2018 during a time when we were living apart. Nico was away renovating the house where we’d raised our daughter, and before he left, he hid little notes around the house for me to find. Each one was a tiny story about a kangaroo who loved adventures.

I began illustrating those notes and sending the drawings back to him. What started as a way to stay connected became a gentle way of processing a big family transition, and slowly, Roobee Roo took shape.

We self-published the first ten board books and sold out online. Today, there are eleven brand new Roobee Roo board books published by Hachette across Australia and New Zealand, alongside plush toys and colourful Wonder Pouches.

What we love most is seeing Roobee Roo out in the world as birthday cakes, children’s drawings, and even as a kindergarten “take-home friend” who goes on adventures with families. That still feels incredibly magical.

We’re also proud to be continuing our Give With Roobee program, working towards our goal of providing 100,000 meals to families in need. Right now, we’re planning on relaunching Roobee Roo with new merchandise and developing an animated series pitch, so her world can keep growing alongside the children who love her.

The current project we’re pitching to publishers is called CUDDLINGS. Tell me where the idea for it came from, and how it’s evolved.

CUDDLINGS began with something we noticed while spending time with young children. Every child has their own way of showing connection and affection. Some love hugs, others don’t. Some wave, some fist bump, some simply stand close and smile.

What really stayed with us was watching educators recognise and respect those differences instead of trying to correct them. A wave instead of a cuddle. A quiet smile instead of a handshake. That sense of choice made children feel safe, understood, and in control of their own boundaries.

We wanted to create a story that gently says it’s okay to have limits, and that not enjoying what everyone else enjoys doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with you. It simply means that’s who you are.

The earliest versions of CUDDLINGS explored this idea through character interactions, and while the intention was there, the storytelling wasn’t quite landing. A short rhyming refrain near the end stood out, though, and with your encouragement we leaned into that. Expanding the rhyme helped shape the whole book into something rhythmic, playful, and memorable, while still carrying an important emotional message. It became a story that’s joyful to read aloud, and meaningful for both children and adults.

What do you love the most about CUDDLINGS?

There’s a lot to love about CUDDLINGS. For a start, they really are very cuddly, and we adore the name. It’s simple, sweet and says exactly what it needs to.

We also love the characters themselves. They’re inspired by cuttlefish, which are such expressive, fascinating creatures. The story is short and gentle, but it carries a big idea about kindness, belonging, and how communities can care for one another.

What matters most to us is that the community never tries to “fix” the main character. Instead, they listen, adapt, and offer support. The problem is resolved through understanding and care, not correction. That’s something we’ve wanted to explore for a long time in a children’s book.

Creatively, we loved the challenge of holding a meaningful message while still making the story genuinely enjoyable to read aloud. We wanted to create a brave main character you immediately care about, alongside a group of supporting characters who recognise the problem and become part of the solution. Visually, it was also exciting to design a character that feels instantly recognisable and to experiment with colour and texture in new ways to bring that emotional warmth to life.

You both have endless imaginations – you have other projects waiting in the wings, as well. 

We’re always working on a few different ideas at once. At the moment, that includes very simple concept and milestone board books with a strong art and design focus, picture books that explore family, community and bigger ideas in gentle ways, as well as funny early readers and graphic novels centered on family dynamics. We’re also developing a handful of animation pitches.

Alongside that, we’ve been spending more time in underwater worlds, building stories that could sit naturally alongside CUDDLINGS and expand that emotional territory.

We tend to let projects grow at their own pace rather than rushing them, which means there’s almost always something quietly taking shape in the background, ready to surface when the time feels right.

What are some of your favorite reactions you’ve gotten from people who read your work? (Either messages you’ve received, or interactions with kids at schools, libraries, or festivals…?)

We’ve been incredibly lucky to receive thoughtful messages from families, teachers, and librarians over the years, and sometimes from unexpected places too. We’ve heard from speech therapists, and even from university students who had our Archie and Reddie books on their required reading lists, which was a surprise and a real honour.

One story, though, has stayed with us more than any other. A little girl who owns all the Roobee Roo books also has a fluffy Wonder Pouch. She has regular hospital visits and needs to wear a heart monitor every day, which can be a lot for such a young child.

Her mum had the idea to place the heart monitor inside Roobee’s pouch, and suddenly everything shifted. The little girl wore Roobee everywhere, even to sleep, with her monitor tucked safely inside. Roobee became a source of comfort and courage during a really challenging time.

When we heard that story, we both cried straight away. Knowing that something we created could help a child feel safer, braver, or less alone in the world is incredibly powerful, and it’s something we carry with us in everything we make.

I associate three things with you: 1) strong (and very cute) visual storytelling for young children; 2) a deep love for nature, animals, and the environment; and 3) a wonderfully tactile creativity (you don’t just make stories; you make toys, plushies, accessories, and more). Is that accurate? If so, how do you incorporate those three strands in your life and work now?

That’s a really thoughtful way of describing our work, and yes, it feels very accurate. We almost never think of ideas as just one thing. A story might begin as a book, but it could just as easily become an animation concept, a toy, a song, or something a child can actually hold and play with. That cross-pollination is part of the fun for us.

Nature sits at the centre of everything we do. It’s part of our everyday life, from spending time in the garden to valuing unstructured, imaginative play outdoors. Because of that, the worlds we create are often filled with trees, flowers, and animals. They feel lived-in rather than designed.

That’s also why our characters tend to be makers and explorers. They’re collecting things, helping animals, building, and imagining. We’re never consciously trying to “add” nature or tactility into a story. It simply emerges from how we live, how we play, and how we think about childhood.

You have a beautiful home and garden. What aspects of your home are most important to you? What does your workspace/studio look like?

We live in a house that’s gradually been taken over by books, plants, and small treasures we’ve collected over the years. Books are everywhere, mostly children’s picture books alongside art, design, and comics, and they’re mixed in with toys, artworks, and natural finds like shells and pinecones.

The garden is the heart of our home. We’ve been collecting and sharing plants for decades, and many of them have followed us from house to house. It’s a place of calm, creativity, and connection, and it feeds directly into the worlds we create.

Our workspace spills across the house, but we do have a light-filled studio that looks out over the forest, and a downstairs art space that’s very much a work in progress. It’s messy, bright, and forgiving, which makes it perfect for making things.

You’ve also mentioned to me that the area where you live is special because of how much support there is for the arts. Could you tell me a bit more about that?

We live in Ballarat, a regional city in Australia that was named a UNESCO Creative City of Crafts and Folk Arts in 2019, which feels very fitting. There’s a strong culture of making here, with skills passed from one generation to the next through traditional crafts, storytelling, and hands-on creative work. It’s about keeping knowledge alive while also making space for new ideas and new voices.

There’s always something happening, from the photo biennale and regional gallery to living history spaces and places like the Centre for Rare Arts and Forgotten Trades, where you can watch endangered skills being practised in real time. That mix of history, making, and creativity is deeply inspiring and feeds directly into how we think about storytelling.

Although both of you live in Australia now, neither of you is originally from there, right? Where did you grow up, and how did you end up meeting each other and starting to work together? Did you get married first, and then start your creative collaborations, or vice versa?

That’s right. Candy grew up in Hong Kong, and Nico is from New Zealand. We met in high school art class, in Sydney, Australia, in the year 2000, which felt like the distant future at the time. Nico used to annoy Candy by drawing candy canes on her artworks, which somehow turned into the beginning of a lifelong creative partnership.

We’ve been making things together for more than 25 years now. What really bonded us was a shared love of children’s books and imaginative worlds. While many people in their early twenties were going to clubs and pubs and trying to feel grown-up, we were happily doing the opposite, creating our own characters, stories, and universes together. Candy was introduced to the wonderful world of children’s books through Nico reading them out loud to her.

In the mid-2000s, we started a designer toy company called Noferin, which took us to the US regularly for gallery exhibitions and conventions. Collaboration has always been at the heart of our relationship. Making things together is how we connect, how we think, and how we build our lives. We actually got married shortly after we made our baby, which feels very on-brand for us.

Where can people connect with you and find out more about your work?

You can find us at nicocandy.com, and we are also on Instagram @nicoandcandy, which is where we tend to share more behind the scenes of our work.

Want to find out more?

Email me if you'd like to hear more about Nico and Candy's available projects!

• Learn more about the Roobee Roo series here.
• Connect with Nico and Candy on their website.
• Connect with Nico and Candy on their Instagram.

 

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by Janna Morishima