Hi, I'm Pauline — the creative mind behind Building Gently

From homeschooling and handmade businesses to websites, systems and digital tools — I've always found my way through making things.

Where it all began

Rooted in a simple life

For fifteen years, I lived a wonderfully simple life on a beautiful piece of land in the Garden Route of South Africa. I homeschooled my daughter, learned my way into motherhood, and spent my days surrounded by family, nature and the rhythms of a slower life.

I also had a little creative business making baby slings and earth-friendly nappies. It wasn't anything grand, but it gave me a way to make something with my hands, contribute a little income, and begin discovering that there was more than one way to build a life and a business.

That little business was one of my first lessons in building gently — starting with what I had, making something useful, and letting it grow from there.

The birth of Nourish

A tiny idea that grew into something real

In 2012, I was looking for a way to contribute a little more to our family income, and I started making soap — just small batches at first, from a little workshop at home.

I had no idea then what it would become.

That tiny idea grew into Nourish Natural Soaps, and over the years it took me into markets, shops, wholesale orders and a whole community of wonderful customers. It became a real business, but more than that, it became a place where I could bring together so many of the things I loved — making things with my hands, being creative, connecting with people and building something of my own.

And somewhere along the way, I discovered that I loved the digital side of building a business just as much.

I started designing my own websites, playing with colours, layouts and images, simply because I enjoyed it. I didn't know it at the time, but that creative thread would eventually lead me here.

Sometimes the things we do simply because we love them turn out to be pointing us towards what's next.

Loss, Change, Becoming

Life shifted, and so did I

There have been seasons in my life that changed me in ways I could never have anticipated.

My daughter grew up and became a young woman. In 2018, I was widowed, and five years later I lost my mother. Those experiences changed the shape of my life, and for a while, I was simply learning how to find my way through a world that looked very different.

But change has a way of opening doors we didn't know were there.

Over the years that followed, I began to feel a quiet pull towards something new. A life with a little more space. A little more freedom. Something slower and more intentional, and perhaps a little closer to the person I was becoming.

With my daughter now living in the Netherlands, another possibility has opened up too — a life that can be more mobile and adaptable, with time spent in different places, new experiences to gather, and room for creativity to take me somewhere unexpected.

I don't have the whole next chapter mapped out. And I think I'm beginning to like it that way.

Returning to the thread that held me

I found my way back to design

Somehow, through all the changes and new chapters, I kept finding my way back to the thing that had always quietly lit me up: design.

I first explored web design shortly after my husband passed away. It was something new to learn, something creative to lose myself in, and a way of making sense of things when so much else felt uncertain.

And then, years later, it found me again.

This time it feels different. Not like starting over, but like returning to something that was there all along.

I love taking an idea and giving it shape — playing with words, images, colour and structure until something begins to feel just right. I love the thoughtful details, the problem-solving, and the moment when all the pieces finally come together.

Build Gently feels like a natural extension of that creative thread.

A gentle homecoming to something I've loved all along.

A life woven with creativity

Finding my way back to making

As I step into this new chapter, my creativity is unfolding in all sorts of unexpected ways.

Cutting back on making soap has created space for all the other creative things that have been waiting patiently in the wings. I've started knitting, sewing and exploring all sorts of ways of making — not just digitally, but with my hands again.

And I'm having such fun.

After so many years of pouring my energy into building a soap business, these creative practices are bringing me back to myself. They remind me how much I love simply making something because I want to see where it leads — without needing it to become a business or serve a purpose.

These days, life feels slower.

I savour peaceful mornings, walk my dogs around our beautiful property, and sip my coffee while ideas begin to wander through my head. There is space to notice things, to follow a creative impulse, and to make room for whatever comes next.

This new chapter feels like home — spacious, grounded, and filled with the quiet joy of creating from the heart again.

What matters to me

Good work should make life feel better, not more complicated.

I believe in thoughtful design, useful technology and creating things with care.

I value simplicity over excess, connection over performance, and work that leaves room for an actual life.

I believe businesses don't need to shout to be seen. They don't need to follow every trend or be everywhere at once.

They need a solid foundation, the right tools, and a way of working that feels like them.

And perhaps most importantly, I believe there's always room to change direction.

To make something differently.
To start again.
To follow a new thread.

That's the kind of business I want to help people build.