Although we only planned to visit for one year, island life was wonderful for a growing family – and my husband’s job turned out to be on-going, so we stayed…”
Lotty Bunbury, brand owner/creative director of resort-wear labels ‘Pink House Mustique’ and ‘Lotty B’
When Lotty Bunbury arrived with her doctor husband on Mustique, she didn’t envisage that she’d still be there, thirty years on, having raised a beautiful family, created two internationally renowned resort-wear brands that have been endorsed and supported by some of the biggest names in fashion, and launched a lifestyle brand of fabrics, wallpapers and porcelain. Here’s the story behind Lottys’ success, direct from the little ’gingerbread house’ that is home to the brands, as the lifestyle presenter Nicky Summer meets the founder of ’Pink House Mustique’ and ’Lotty B.’:
NS: ”Lotty, you’ve created such an enviable family lifestyle and business model, however, there must have been challenges when setting up your companies from the Caribbean… how did it all come about in the first place?”
LB: ”Back in 1992, The British Medical Journal put out an advertisement: ‘Doctor needed on small private island for one year’; we’d only recently arrived back in London from working in a missionary hospital in Zululand, and Mustique sounded like an ideal place to spend the first year with our brand new baby. My husband, Michael, had been a doctor in the British army for 7 years before our travels in Africa, so his combined previous experience suited the job well as a solo doctor on a remote island…”
NS: ”That must have been a very exciting and enterprising time for you both! What did you find were the main challenges of living on a relatively small island back then?”
LB: ”In the early days, communication with the rest of the world was dismal, so we relied entirely on the close community for company; also, the electricity was always cutting out… however, for us, candlelight only enhanced the romance of the island! The food was appalling, too, so we bought a farm on the neighbouring island of St. Vincent – there’s regular rainfall and rich volcanic soil – our weekly deliveries of organic fruit and vegetables are a highlight of our island life to this day. Although this little island lifestyle may not have suited everyone, for us it has been the perfect life and I wouldn’t change it for the world…”
The day before my first ever Mustique Christmas Craft Show we gave a party for our son Freddy’s 1st birthday; Jerry Hall brought Georgia-May to the party and saw my collection of hand painted sarongs ready and waiting for display the following day. She bought them all there and then, saying that they would make the perfect Christmas gifts for her friends back in LA…”
Lotty Bunbury, brand owner/creative director of resort-wear labels ‘Pink House Mustique’ and ‘Lotty B’
NS: ”It sounds like you kept yourselves incredibly busy from Day 1; how did you find time to start your resort-wear brand and how did it evolve?”
LB: ”Originally, my career was going to be in stained glass and I’d studied at Chelsea Art School as a stained glass artist, however, I thought I’d put that on hold while we spent the planned year in the Caribbean. I’d brought the silk fabric and paints with me as a new hobby and I soon started painting silk sarongs, hand hemming them then selling them at island craft events we staged as a community at Christmas time. After that, I started to make kaftans out of my hand-painted sarongs. Pat Beard, at that time editor of ‘Town and Country Magazine’, and a regular visitor to Mustique, wrote an article on us to promote my cottage industry business. As a result of that, my husband built a little website for me and I sold kaftans under the label ‘Lotty B – Mustique’ to clients in Palm Beach who’d email me their measurements; I’d produce the bespoke kaftans then courier the finished pieces to them on mainland USA…”
At this point Tommy Hilfiger took a couple of my kaftans up to his NY fashion show, then Colin Fenn, of Fenn Wright and Manson, introduced me to the idea of screen-printing my silks when hand-painting became too slow to keep up with demand. Our brand is now sold in exclusive resorts and boutiques worldwide, including USA, Maldives, UK and across the Caribbean…”
Lotty Bunbury, brand owner/creative director of resort-wear labels ‘Pink House Mustique’ and ‘Lotty B’
NS: ”The visitors to Mustique are known to be highly influential and business success is all about contacts, contacts, contacts – a lot of it revolves around socialising at ’Basil’s Bar’… how did living on the island help you in that unique way?”
LB: ”Tommy Hilfiger took a couple of my kaftans up to his NY fashion show at Bryant Park and Colin Fenn, co-founder of ‘Fenn Wright and Manson’, introduced me to the idea of screen-printing my silks when hand-painting became too slow to keep up with demand – he had my first designs printed up on my behalf; in addition, John Robinson of ’Jigsaw’ showcased a small collection of my designs in his London stores. The kindness and encouragement from Tommy, Colin and John all helped to build my confidence so that, in 2008, when the little gingerbread shop came up for rent, I took the plunge. We called it ‘Pink House’, obviously! It’s a beautiful and iconic island treasure and, along with Basil’s Bar, must be the most photographed building on Mustique…”
In the Pink House boutique on Mustique we sell accessories produced by other lifestyle brands to compliment our own resort collections: Flip-flops by ‘Malvados’; ‘Freyrs’ sunglasses; ‘Frescobol Carioca’ beach bats and several jewellery brands including Deborah Blyth whose collections we love…”
Lotty Bunbury, brand owner/creative director of resort-wear labels ‘Pink House Mustique’ and ‘Lotty B’
Our latest ventures are in beautiful handmade fine bone china which we are now shipping worldwide and some fabulous performance furnishing fabrics which we’ll be bringing to our website soon; I’ve already completed quite a few commissions on the island with our new drapery and upholstery fabrics and I’m thrilled with the results…”
Lotty Bunbury, brand owner/creative director of resort-wear labels ‘Pink House Mustique’ and ‘Lotty B’
NS: ”Finally, Lotty, which aspects of island life would you say most inspire the development of your designs?”
LB: ”Because I live here almost all year round, nearly everything I design is inspired by this little island. I walk most days, usually off the beaten track along the coastal pathways and I’m continually fascinated and enthused by the stunning colours and combinations of colours, or it may be just the shape of a leaf or an insect. I often bring home a plant that’s captured my interest and I then sketch it, paint it and sometimes I take it to the next stage by simplifying it and making a repeat pattern… I’m constantly building up a design and then simplifying it depending on it’s final usage; Mustique in itself is my muse…”
WEBSITE: http://www.pinkhousemustique.com