All About
Luli Creative.

LULI CREATIVE DESIGN

Unless I know people well, I’ve never been good at broadcasting things about me. I get a bit embarrassed and I don’t wish to presume that people will be interested. I suppose I’m generally quite private but here goes.

My dad, alongside running his packaging business has been a luthier for many years and my late mum was very creative in many areas. I’m sure that a lot of that rubbed off on me. Mum always had me doing and making during my time at home and school holidays. Being an only child, she had her work cut out finding me things to do and juggling work at the same time. I was quite self-sufficient though and when I wasn’t out riding my BMX with friends and getting stuck up trees, I was gluing things together, making stuff, colouring things, baking, or sewing things.

I love colour and which colours go well together. I love design in pretty much any shape or form. My husband says I ‘colour in’ for a living. He calls me A Colouring-in-ist which in some ways is true.

As a child I was always colouring in and not always what I should be; like the bricks on the side of the garage wall. That was the day mum went purple and made me spend 3 hours scrubbing it off. I thought it looked pretty. I loved chopping things up, sticking things down, shaving the cat, sticking things together (not the cat), stealing mum’s Letraset when she wasn’t looking, so she was always out of the important fonts and letters when she needed them the most for work. I was a considerate child. My schoolbooks looked fancy though which was important. I’d paint things, craft things, generally make a big mess. Every mother’s dream.

I’d sew stuff to my school skirt by mistake. Later on, at secondary school, I decided that the brand new skirt my parents had bought for me was way too long, so I cut it off and turned it up in sewing class. I forgot to allow for a hem, so it ended up way shorter than I intended and only just covered my bum. Another purple day for mum who made me wear it for the rest of school and quite rightly so, refused to buy me a new one. Tights and long socks came in useful that year.

I left school and went to college for four years to get some colouring qualifications. I completed a BTEC National Diploma in General Art and Design, which covered six areas (Graphic Design, Illustration, 3D, Textiles, Fashion & Fine Art). There, I specialised in Textile Design gaining an HND and I still love dying fabrics, sewing and creating pattern now.

Textiles, colour theory and a good eye for putting colours together has become a very good basis for my other design work. 

Over the years, I have also completed courses and have qualifications in Excel, Sage Accounting, Ceramics, Knitwear & Crochet, Sewing, Web Design, Illustration & Graphic Design, Photography. I have a City and Guilds in Millinery and Design for Millinery if you ever need a nice hat. Actually I unfortunately I don’t do that anymore but it was good experience. I was taught to make hats by the lady who designed and made all the queen mum’s hats, even the one designed for her coffin when she passed away which was prepared many years in advance and had the whole of he back missing as it would be worn lying down.

Mid to late 90s, I worked in an all-boys secondary school in Maidenhead as an Art Technician which was rewarding, interesting and mildly terrifying all rolled into one.

I‘ve spent time working for three graphic design studios, followed by a stint as a Sales Account Manager which I enjoyed but it wasn’t channelling my inner designer, so I left there to go back in to design but working for myself.

Since 2000 I’ve freelanced as a graphic designer but having worked on many projects for other companies, I decided that it was time to create my own brand and company and seek more of my own clients. I have run my own merchandise, branded clothing/workwear and design company called Creativitee alongside freelancing for over 20 years and work with some amazing business partners/suppliers in all areas which I don’t cover myself so as Luli, we can supply the whole package.

When I was creating my own brand, it struck me that I’d been “branded” since birth. “Luli” is my childhood nickname.

As a baby, my parents called me Lu or Lulu—a name my dad’s family affectionately used for “chicken.” My Swiss aunt suggested that I should be “Little Chicken” or “Luli,” since in Swiss German, diminutives are formed by adding the suffix “-li” to the end of a word. Interestingly, Luli is also of Chinese origin, meaning “dewy jasmine,” which resonates with me as I’m about 34% Chinese.

Though I wasn’t a big fan of my nickname growing up, I warmed to it more as I got older. So, in 2016, Luli was reborn as the perfect brand name for me.

Originally from Marlow, Bucks, I now live in beautiful Wiltshire. I’m lucky to work from my home office overlooking the village duck pond.