What began as a passion project and a hobby for Natalie Pendigrast, soon turned into a full fledged business. An interior designer by profession, Natalie recognised a gap in the market for lamps and lighting. An advocate of Sri Lankan design and a love for simple, local materials, Natalie started off determined to design and build fittings that had a distinctly Sri Lankan flair to it. Pendi began with five lamp designs, a facebook page and a number of pop up sales.

The concept behind Pendi, Natalie's absolute staunch belief, that traditional Sri Lankan crafts and skills could be reinvented and reinterpreted to reflect the contemporary Sri Lankan lifestyle, pushed her to meet and collaborate with other designers and makers in various industries. Her very first collaborations with Batiks by Salt and Ena Designs were displayed at the launch of Pendi in 2015. The first collection included unique batik bed linen, table linen and their first ever collection of batik lighting and lampshades with Salt. Ena displayed her first collection of hand cut marble cheese boards, textile prints and a one off marble & steel combination coffee table.

Pendi opened the doors to its first retail space in 2017 housing a curated collection of lighting products and homeware, priding itself on thriving with the encouragement of local artisans, designers and craftsmen. Taking advantage of skills and materials that are mostly unique to Sri Lanka, Pendi stands true to its belief of individuality. Working with a selection of local artists, designers and tradesmen, Pendi is now an expanding brand and community looking to encourage small businesses and start ups within the homeware and lifestyle range. Within just a short time frame, Pendi has grown extensively and is still growing with 98% of the selection coming from female designers and entrepreneurs. Pendi works with a number of Designers and artists and encourages expression of their personality through their work, which, is what gives each piece a unique, bespoke quality.

With the market today trending towards creating an iconic custom feel within each space, Pendi works towards delivering personality and standalone quality. With styles and designs of homeware branching out, Pendi specialises in revamping the traditional, cultural homeware. Working with designers and Clients in a Design Hub process, debating development of products, Pendi creates custom pieces, especially with lighting and lamps. Pendi encourages and is enthusiastic to work with other clients and Designers to develop new ideas. Pendi hopes to build on this concept, to evolve into truly unique homeware and lifestyle brand.

Over time, Pendi has evolved in a community hub that supports and build each others businesses. We are now, what we like to refer to ourselves as the #Pendifam. We have also during this time, realized what it is we stand for, what kind of business we want to grow to be.

Pendi has inadvertently evolved into an almost all female work force. From our day to day operations, to our contributing Designers and Artists, to even our skilled Artisans, the Pendi workforce is a community of strong, businesswomen who support and encourage each other to grow each other's businesses.

• Currently, over 50% of our studio and retail staff who run our daily operations are women.
• 90% of our contributing designers & artists are women.
• 50% of our leadership making strategic decisions and running our operations are women.
• We aim to create a vibrant business atmosphere involving a broad spectrum of collaborators, contributors and innovators to open opportunities for women.
• We aim to involve the active and interactive participation of various businesses, designer and artists within the Pendi Community to work together.
• We encourage and promote business relationships between women owned enterprises, especially small businesses and women entrepreneurs.
• We aim to ensure that all our Women Entrepreneurs, artists, designers and skilled artisans are afforded equal opportunity and are paid equal remuneration for equal value and strive to pay living wage to all of our employees.
• We offer flexible work options specifically for working mothers and women of all age groups with special support during pregnancy and maternity leave.

We believe in the practice of Fair Trade. We strive to ensure each of suppliers, designers & artists receive a fair price for their product and that in turn, our retail price is fair and reasonable to our customers. Our products are designed with longevity in mind in hope that with good care and maintenance, you can use and cherish it within your life span and hopefully in your children's as well.

• Creating Opportunities for Economically Disadvantaged Producers Transparency and Accountability
• Payment of a Fair Price
• Ensuring no Child Labor and Forced Labor
• Commitment to Non Discrimination, Gender Equity and Freedom of Association
• Ensuring Good Working Conditions
• Respect for the Environment