Making It Work: How pop-up success inspired the founder of Lily Pad home accessories

A sudden family bereavement ended up being the catalyst for Gillian Rijke to found her own interiors business

Gillian Rijke: ‘I don’t want to be Ikea, I’d just love a couple of shops. That would suit me very nicely.’ Picture: Shane O'Neill/Coalesce

The success of a pop-up shop in her home town of Greystones, Co Wicklow, has given the founder of Lily Pad Home Accessories, an interiors business, the confidence to start thinking about opening permanent stores.

Gillian Rijke said the inspiration for both the business and its name came from her aunt Eithne, who died suddenly in 2019.

The pair had always been close, and while clearing out her aunt’s house Rijke noticed a pond in ...