Helen Lennie is the Sales & Marketing Director of Signature Prints Pty Ltd and is the human dynamo of the business, beautifully complimenting the ambitions and vision of her husband David Lennie, the CEO of Signature Prints.

Sports and Shrubberies in New Zealand

Helen Lennie was born in New Zealand in the late 1960s and excelled in sports at school. During the weekends she helped her parents in their horticultural business where she was exposed not only to business basics but also learned at close hand how a husband and wife can work together and retain their sanity while sharing the pressures of running a successful business.

Chanel Here We Come!

On her eighteenth birthday Helen Lennie bought a one-way ticket out of New Zealand, eager to travel and see the world, and after much globetrotting ended up in Sydney where she worked in retail and hospitality. And it was in Sydney that she was headhunted by Chanel to work in its prestigious boutique in the heart of Sydney.

While at Chanel, Helen Lennie quickly learned all there was to learn about working in the high-end luxury and fashion business where merchandise is expensive and stylish, and the customers ultra-demanding.

It was in the boutique in 1998 that Helen met David Lennie and, attracted by his dry sense of humour and offbeat love tokens (such as a bunches of maize rather than bunches of flowers), fell in love. Within six weeks they were engaged, Helen waved goodbye to Chanel and rolled up her sleeves to work side-by-side with David at the rapidly growing Signature Prints.

Business Partner by Day, Barmaid by Night

In 1999, Helen and David found time to get married, but wedded life was no bed of roses for Helen Lennie. In addition to working at Signature Prints during the day, in the early days there wasn't enough money to keep her in the manner to which she was accustomed. So she had to work six evenings a week in a down-at-heel pub in the inner-city Sydney suburb of Paddington to keep herself in shoes and frocks.

Helen's passion and David's dreams keep them both going, and their marriage has survived the hot-house creative atmosphere of Signature Prints and its daily production dramas. It even survived the fateful garage sale when Helen sold David's treasured antique Chinese jade sword to a pleasantly surprised bargain hunter for $20.

The Tyrant at Work

One of Helen Lennie's main roles at Signature Prints is making sure clients, demanding excellence in their purchases of luscious fabrics, magnificent wallpapers and much sought-after lifestyle accessories, get exactly what they want.

Helen also hires the crème de la crème of the dozens of people who are eager to work at Signature Prints, choosing those who are the hardest working, the most creative and the most fun to be around. And above all, those who share her passion for the business.

After Hours

When she's not working, Helen enjoys collecting original artworks and clothes. Her favourite designers are Akira Isogawa, Missoni, Tim O'Connor, Valentino and Shona Joy. When out and about, whether in exclusive bars and restaurants of London and New York, or just the “local”, she is most likely to be seen wearing custom-made Florence Broadhurst jackets and gowns.