How it started
Lily has been an avid sketcher and maker for as long as she can remember. After college, she left Tiverton to study Surface Pattern Design in Swansea. She fell in love with fashion textiles, but her natural curiosity saw her explore many different materials and techniques. As a shiny new graduate with a head full of ideas but empty pockets, Lily turned the wooden offcuts from her degree collections into floral brooches to sell at local markets. Her goal was to make something to suit every purse and person.
A collection of Lily's sketchbooks past and present they all feature drawings inspired by her love of nature. But if you delve your are also sure to find a love of architectural ornamentation and a rich collection of patterns from her travels.
Lily started working with wood again following a job merchandising a local café. Back then, she had to send her designs off to a local supplier to cut. Unlike screen printing, it was slow, expensive and hard to experiment. Then, on a trip to South Africa, Lily met a maker who had her own laser cutter. It opened Lily’s eyes to how advanced and affordable the technology had become. Leonard the K40 joined the team and LF production, product development and (most importantly) play finally moved fully in-house.
And it worked. Her creations flew out faster than she could make them. Heartened, Lily made a decision. Instead of accepting a job in industry, she bought her first screen printing kit. Back in Tiverton, her dad’s dusty cob basement became her first studio, where she made textile and acrylic jewellery for her growing customer base.
A collection of screen printed pieces of acrylic from Lily faith's early days of creating printed jewellery. These showcased Lily's love of colour and pattern.
For some time, Lily Faith offered only abstract pieces. But when Lily’s characteristically blunt neighbour said, “They’re nice. But what are they?” he unwittingly changed the course of LF forever. Lily went (quite literally) back to the drawing board. A nature lover for life, she repurposed her realistic hand drawn illustrations in new and unexpected ways to bring a bit of Devon magic to homes and clothes, celebrations and Sundays. She understands the strong emotional connection folks have to a specific bird or beast, often adding to a cherished collection or buying them as gifts for the fox fan or ladybird lover in their life.
An early piece of Lily Faith's homeware objects, she created four collections of patterned birds, using recycled and upcycled materials. These sold in galleries throughout the South West, UK and became the starting point of how we work today.
The Wren was one of our earliest designs when we dipped our toe into creating realistic creatures we all know and love. The humble is Wren is a particular favourite of Lily's Ma and brother Isaac and features heavily in their conversations on birds!
Now, after 16 years in business, the LF team is expanding as our furry friends take flight to more shops and more homes around the world. We’ve got plenty of exciting things on the cutting list that we can’t wait to share with you.