“On my first evening there with my husband, we were hungry. There weren’t many things on Google maps in the local area we were living, so we wandered through alleys looking for food. Eventually, someone asked us to come in. There were some tables so we assumed it was a restaurant.
“We didn’t speak any Vietnamese at that point, and he didn’t speak very good English. We tried to say the word “eat” with Google Translate and he gave us some delicious spring rolls. When we were about to leave, I tried to pay him for it, but he kept giving it back to me,” she recalled.
Later, when speaking to her landlord, she realised that this was not a restaurant but someone’s home. “A random person who didn’t speak our language saw that we were lost, opened up their home and fed us. I could not imagine that happening in London,” she reflected.
“Living in Hanoi fundamentally changed my values. I learned the power of caring about people that aren’t in your little unit. I wanted to be more like this, not just chasing the next thing,” she said.
What also really stuck with her was the poverty she witnessed.
“There were homeless people on the street,” she said. “We used to go to this local bun cha (grilled pork and noodles) place and noticed a mother with two little girls sleeping on the floor outside, burning rubbish to keep warm. We always gave her money. But I remember feeling quite helpless.”
Founding her pottery brand empowers Lovatt to make a more lasting impact.
FINDING PURPOSE FAR FROM HOME
Funded by her own savings, Lovatt started Lily and Sophia with 700 to 800 pieces, which she began designing from scratch with the Vietnamese artisans in March 2023. The pieces are inspired by her most memorable travels – an unforgettable lagoon, the colour of the ocean, aurora, petals, pebbles and seashells.
