1998

Unfulfilled in her job as a corporate interior designer, Jennifer Velarde starts thinking about ways she might add more creativity and independence to her life. She sketches thoughts, drawings and business ideas on napkins and hotel notepads while traveling for her job and pulls out her old sewing machine to bring her creations to life.

The very first LILL Bags are created in her small studio condo at 1154 W. Lill Street in Chicago, the first place she owns and the first time she lives by herself. The bags, made of remnant fabric swatches and samples, are praised by both friends and strangers when Jen carries them about town.