The idea behind Lola’s Lampshades came to me just over two years ago when I was doing up my living room and I could not find a lampshade in a bright pink colour to co-ordinate with my new and colourful curtains. So I thought, I am just going to have to make my own.
Unfortunately/fortunately for me, I had a very life changing experience in March 2016, I was left paralysed from the chest down after a rare neuro immune condition called transverse myelitis. Having spent three months in University Hospital Galway, I went on to the National Rehabilitation Hospital in Dun Laoghaire for four months to learn to adapt to my new lifestyle.
Following Dun Laoghaire, my two teenage children and I lived with my parents for six months whilst our home was completely renovated to suit my new lifestyle.
I was a single mum to two teenage children and had been working full time in the financial industry and all of a sudden I am a wheelchair user and having to lead a very different lifestyle. Having worked full time for 17 years since the age of 21, I was now finding that every day was rolling in to the next, I was not getting that friday feeling, the feeling, of having accomplished something after my working week. I needed to be using my brain again.
I have always had a love for fashion and interiors, It eventually came to me, thankfully, that now was the opportunity for me to do something in a more creative environment, which I had been longing for, for some years. I really felt there was a gap in the market when it came to unique and individual lampshades, it just seemed to be beige lampshades everywhere! So Lola’s Lampshades began and now I get to work in the comfort of my home and I am now getting to do something I really love and enjoy.
