My Story

In the spirit of reconciliation Lilly Pilly Loft acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of country throughout Australia and their connections to land, sea and community. We pay our respect to their elders past and present and extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today.

 

Hello! I’m Penelope (or Penny!), the Head Designer and Owner of Lilly Pilly Loft. Thank you for coming here to learn a little bit about me and my business.

I’m a mum of two school boys which raising them has pretty much been my full-time job for the last 13 years. Before kids, I was dabbling in marketing, being a Sales Rep for a vitamin company, a Health Food store owner, and a Naturopath. So how on earth did I get to opening this business??

I think we can all remember the recent and prolonged Australian drought which then led to the horribly devastating bush fires that burnt the country from October 2019 to February 2020. And what came after the rains and the last fire was extinguished? The C word… Covid-19.

While all these trials were absolutely devastating, debilitating, depressing and every other bad emotion you can thing of, what we also saw was Australians pulling together. Helping each other out. Re-discovering a love for our country and exploring our own backyard. We found community spirit again through these adversities and ignited lost Australian spirit. This made me proud, patriotic, and truly grateful for being able to live in this amazing country.

Just after Christmas 2020, I had a very strong calling to try and inspire more Australians to have their Christmases look more “Australian”. To reflect a Summer Christmas, and ditch the “traditional” European, winter Christmas look and to start our own Christmas traditions using Australian imagery. And so, with this burning inside me, I went about drawing designs, writing down ideas, researching Australian printing houses (there was NO way I was going to print Australiana imagery overseas!!), and doing all the other bits and pieces needed to get this off the ground. All the while striving to produce a high quality Australian made product.

This became a passion and was a wonderful new focus and direction for me. I worked on this every day, constantly moving forward, but not getting too far ahead of myself. Every step felt right, and I knew that this is what I was meant to be doing.

I launched Lilly Pilly Christmas in September 2020, with 7 Christmas designs. Some of these I collaborated with other Australian artists to have a collection with a bit of style variety. The collection was very well received, and requests soon came to extend my range to offer non-Christmas designs. 

A name change was then on the cards since I was expanding my collections,  and Lilly Pilly Loft was born!

So why Lilly Pilly Loft? The Loft is where I do all my creating and collaborating. It's my own special place filled with all my precious bits and bobs that fill my heart and inspire me. It's where 3 windows allow natural sunlight to flood the room, where I can watch trees bend in the wind, and where my little doggie keeps me company all day.

Fast forward to July 2023, where I announced a new direction in Lilly Pilly Loft. While I still have my gorgeous products available for sale, I will no longer be producing any new physical products. Instead, I am moving towards digital products in an effort to reduce manufacturing environmental impacts, as well as reducing costs for my customers. 

I am also opening up all current patterns to licensing, as well as working on collections to be made available via Print on Demand as well as open for licensing. 

Now as I approach the end of 2023, it is time to shut up shop (aka close the website!). I will definitely NOT be disappearing as I have lots to get creating. So please follow me on Instagram @lillypillyloft and keep reading your (very infrequent!) email updates!

Thank you for coming on this journey with me!

Stay safe and happy!

- Penny

I have one employee, Office Dog Misty. Her greatest daily achievements are a change in sleeping positions and loud sighs.