While in Greece, seven years ago, Kate Muir had a “struck by lightning” moment that changed her life.
Walking through the streets of Kolonaki, Athens, on a beautiful October day, she was “having a little daydream,” when she “watched this scene play out in front of” her.
“In a café that was extremely busy for a Tuesday,” Kate recalls, “four guys” talking “no doubt” about politics, “in a very Greek, fiery” way.
Next to them, a man was reading the newspaper.
Beside him, someone chatting on the phone while staring up at the sky.
At the end a woman standing to greet a friend.
Muir wondered, “what are these people doing?”
The answer hit her like a bolt of lightning.
“They were all present in the moment sipping their freddo espresso.”
“In that moment” she realised, the Mediterranean lifestyle “we all dream of,” was not about “the sea, or the sky.”
“It was about time, connection, community and taking the time.”
That is when she had her “Eureka” moment.
“I’m going to start a beauty brand. I’m going to turn it into a lifestyle brand,” she thought.
“To start as you wish to proceed.”
With that saying in mind, Muir made her first steps to turning Lilian Muir’s dream into a reality.
She started a collection, aspiring to embody the “almost intangible” way of the Mediterranean lifestyle, “by pulling down the elements” that can be made “tangible.”
“Lillian Muir isn’t just a brand. It’s pursuit is to capture this way of life,” she told Neos Kosmos.
She wanted the first two products to capture the essence of one of Greece’s most popular coffee drinks. The Freddo Espresso.
“Seven years later, that plan hasn’t changed,” she said.
On Thursday, April 18, Kate launched Lillian Muir’s first product collection, which includes the Freddo Espresso Transforming Body Scrub, the Whipped Body Cream, and the Body Sweep brush.
As “the third piece of the puzzle” of “a triptych of events” held in Athens and Bondi NSW, the launch took place at Fitzroy’s North Gallery, a modern art space known for showcasing various art forms in Melbourne.
The studio gallery was decorated with olive tree plants and golden bowls filled with lemons and oranges, setting a vibe that celebrated the beauty of the Mediterranean lifestyle.
In one gallery room, there was a table with free samples of the products, placed on a tablecloth that served as a canvas for people to write messages in blue and gold paint.
During the event photographer and one of Lilian Muir’s collaborators Lee Oliveira did a Q&A with Kate.
They talked about Lillian Muir’s inception, dream and future plans.
With over 120 people coming to the event, Muir expressed the importance of spending this time “together” with collaborators, friends, and supporters.
“One of the things I’ve certainly learned from spending time in Greece is that idea of ‘parea’ and being together and that sense of community.”
Athens. A “creative Wonderland.”
Despite being Australian, Muir talks openly about the strong connection she felt to Greece, even before marrying her Greek husband.
“There’s something about the light in Athens like you get off the plane and there’s a crispness in the light, it’s magical. I love the collision of contemporary and antiquity that happens. That’s something that we don’t have here and something that I found so magical in my time there.”
For the past 10 years, she has been visiting the country, “building relationships” with fashion, jewellery designers, and other creatives.
Working closely with people from Athens Biennale, an international cultural event held in Athens gave her a “front-row seat” to the city’s artistic side.
This has allowed her to be part of a “wave of creativity” in Greece’s capital.
“It’s like being in a creative Wonderland. It’s been so inspiring, and I feel like it’s something I was searching for without knowing what the answer was.”
She said, “there’s a collision of a youth culture happening in Athens” which consists of highly educated individuals, mainly under 40, who have lived through hard times.
“I see them as coming through the end of a very challenging time. And I see that they are striving to live a better life than their parents or their grandparents.”
Muir said this emerging “movement” is “not just about creativity.”
It is also about people pursuing their dreams “together.”
Enriching Lilian Muir’s story through collaborator contributions
With “all skincare products made in Athens,” Muir worked closely with everyone involved in the process, from packaging developers and photographers to chemical engineers and local Greek farmers.
She said, “the story of Lillian Muir is made is richer” by the “contribution of those collaborators.”
While working with farmers in Thessaloniki, she visited the fields where some of the product’s ingredients were grown.
She remembers throwing on her sneakers and diving into a vat where “freshly picked ingredients” were collected.
“To be able to go to the farm, to work with them, to learn their process…it’s been amazing.”
This collaboration inspired Muir to seek relationships with farmers, including one who grows ancient mandarin varieties on the “Blue Zone” island of Chios.
“There’s an element of right place, right time and that’s such a magic moment.”
She said she truly felt what the Greek word philoxenia (φιλοξενία) means, the concept of hospitality and kindness to strangers.
“It’s not just about trade, it’s about building those connections of support, of sharing, of ideas. And that for me, is so special and I just don’t know whether I would have had that same beauty anywhere else in the world.”
Forging connections
Kate had a surprise encounter in Athens earlier this year, while organising the first launch activities for Lilian Muir.
While enjoying lunch at a restaurant, she randomly ran into Alison Duncan, the Australian ambassador to Greece.
“I met her on the street,” Muir said.
The two started talking, and Duncan attended the launch event as well as an “intimate dinner” hosted by Muir in Athens.
“I’m very grateful to have had the support of Alison Duncan,” she said.
At the dinner, Muir invited a group of supports and collaborators for the brand including founder of the Athens Biennale Poka-Yio, Vogue Greece contributor Christina Politi, designer and philanthropist Marina Vernicos, jewellery designer Konstantina Pantelous (Hermina), fashion designer Evi Grintela, cookbook author and chef Carolina Doriti and other leading creatives from the city.
A journey of creativity and community
Kate Muir was born in Griffith New South Wales and grew up in Sydney before moving to Melbourne about eight years ago.
She has worked at The Woolmark Company, Ermenegildo Zegna, and The Australian Ballet.
For Zegna’s 50th annual Wool Awards event, she worked on a project, where Chris Hemsworth was the major fashion guest and Megan Gale was host, leading the brand marketing for regional Australia and New Zealand, at 23.
Following a desire to be “in the nucleus of something,” she moved to Melbourne.
Soon after, she found herself in her husband’s small village in the Peloponnese, taking some time to think about what to do next.
The answer came when she returned to Australia and got the opportunity to work at the Australian Ballet.
Being “at the right place, the right time” she became the Chairperson of the Cancer Council Victoria Network & Advisory Committee.
She also joined an initiative, The Postal Lane Markets, which aimed to revive Melbourne’s CBD after lockdown, celebrating local makers and creators and bringing the community together.
At Melbourne’s GPO building she helped organise markets, with food, and live music, and a long dining table experience, with the support of Melbourne’s former lord mayor Sally Capp among others.
The goal was to raise funds and awareness for the Cancer Council’s effort to eliminate cervical cancer in Victoria in the next 6 – 8 years.
They raised $56,500 on the night.
What’s next?
Muir said there is a whole pipeline of 31 products, “that is in development” including face care line, swimwear, and kaftan collections.
One of her special collaborators for this collection, is her 91-year-old grandmother, who hand-beaded some earrings and kaftan’s tassels.
“This woman seems to have no limit to what she can create, even at 91,” said Muir, who shares a special bond with her “incredibly creative” grandmother.
She said if Lilian Muir’s pursuit is to capture the Mediterranean way of life “it will never be one ingredient, one fragrance, one product or one category. It needs to be a tapestry.”
“A lifestyle brand is about holding onto those things that articulate that tapestry,” whether it’s “fashion pieces, homewares, cookbooks,” that “come together to paint that tapestry.”
“I love this saying, to start as you wish to proceed. So even if you can’t do something to the fullest of your dreams from that day, you can take the first steps to realise that dream.”
