Our Story
By The Lily Pond hand-crafts premium natural skincare products, made from only the best ingredients. Our business ethos is guided by social and environmental responsibility and principles of sustainability.
Our range of products is hand-crafted. Whenever possible, we use ingredients that are certified organic, pure/natural (e.g., unrefined), therapy-grade, vegan or vegetarian (when containing beeswax), and/or fair-trade. Most of our products are packaged in glass jars or, in the case of moisturiser/massage bars, are sold in eco-certified kraft-paper bags. In the future we are hoping to obtain eco- and organic certification.
Our brand is centred on a stylish aesthetic evoking an art deco feel and the exuberant energy of the jazz era.
Suse Rose, the proprietor of By The Lily Pond, recognised in her middle-age that passion was lacking in her working life and that she needed to take a new direction, for her own well-being and that of the people close to her. By The Lily Pond grew out of her pursuit of such passion.
Our “no-compromise” ethos of social and environmental responsibility is rooted in Suse’s long-time interest in environmental and social issues. Suse holds a Master of Science degree in Geography and has previously taught a course in Environmental Sociology at the University of Canterbury.
In October 2019, Suse took the plunge and prepared to turn her new-found passion into a small business. She started by drawing on another passion of hers, pencil drawing and graphic design, and started developing the visual branding for the business and pondered what name it should have. In November 2019, Suse registered the trading name By The Lily Pond. The name “Susanne” stems from the Hebrew word Soshana, a derivative of shōshannāh, which means “lily”. It has been an old family joke that her full name, Susanne Rose, is a whole bunch of flowers.
