‘Georgia Draws A House’ artist (and new mum!) shares how her successful business came about!
Sydney artist (and new mum!) Georgia Norton Lodge, known as the ‘Georgia Draws A House’ on social media, has gained thousands of followers on Instagram but her business of drawing beautiful homes, doing workshops and making big murals started out very differently to what it is now. We caught up with her in Sydney’s beautiful Inner West to find out more.
Photography and story by Glen Moret.
Congratulations on being a new mum! Is it as you expected?
”Ummm, absolutely not. I don't know what I expected but it's not this!”
How did you start Georgia Draws A House (GDAH)?
“GDAH started when I drew the cover for my sister's first book (Almost Sincerely! I'm a designer by trade). It was made up of all the buildings and space from the suburb we grew up in – when I got around to drawing my family home, I got unexpectedly emotional.”
“I gave the original to my mother, she burst into tears! Her friend saw it, loved it so much and asked me to draw her home, so I did. And then I drew her friend's, friend's home, then her friend's, friend's, aunty's home and just like that GDAH was born.”
“I started an Instagram and built a website so people could order theirs online: people go to my website, pop in their address and within a few weeks a drawing of their home arrives.”
“No wayyyyy did I expect it to be this popular.”
“A drawing drop is released on the 1st of each month, I make 30-40 spots available and they sell out in minutes. I'm shocked every time this happens. I guess everyone has a connection to home and it's bespoke art that is affordable – so people eat it up.”
What's a normal day look like for you?
“A day is never the same, I also run a design business - Soft Launch. So I could be at a festival or pub drawing a mural, I could have my head down trying to get through 10 house drawings, I could be hosting an international workshop for 200+ on Zoom, or I could be designing a brand for a new restaurant or even coding a website, perhaps I'm in the corner of a room with post-it notes all around me working on a plot for a new book series with my sister!”
“My days are varied, I think thats why the girls like working at GDAH / Soft Launch HQ so much.”
What's next?
“Take it as it comes. I haven't planned anything for GDAH so far, it's grown organically. I hope to keep it this way. We have a 2022 motto at GDAH: 'Stress Less, Explore More' - so that's what we'll be doing.”
Explore Georgia’s work here on Instagram, or buy her beautiful new book or find out more about getting your own home drawn via her website here.
