AIBD Member Spotlight
Pippin Home Designs AN INSPIRED LIFE STORY OF AN ENTREPRENEUR By Jenny Pippin
Raised
on a tobacco farm in North Carolina, Jenny Pippin embraced the foundations of hard work, entrepreneurship, and an appreciation for Mother Nature. Growing up she always knew she would one day lead her own company. And later she knew it would be through the lens of creativity and seeing opportunity amidst difficult situations. Her journey began when she entered an architectural technology program in her 20’s which fulfilled her passions for homes, art, and nature. Upon graduation, the School of Hard Knocks took over where her degree left off. At the age of 26, Jenny was in a nearly fatal car accident that rendered her temporarily disabled in a full body cast for four months. She quickly learned that her home did not accommodate someone with physical challenges and saw the importance of designing functional homes. The same home that created such a mobility challenge for Jenny was also a passive solar home. Jenny initially was elated about experiencing a home that harnessed the energy of the sun. Unfortunately, the solar thermal mass had been inadequately designed and resulted in an uncomfortable home that was overheated in the summertime. Again, she took this lesson to heart and saw the tremendous opportunity for homes to work in tandem with their surrounding environment. This inspired her to go back to school at the North Carolina Solar Center at NCSU with a focus on energy efficiency and solar design, eventually obtaining a Green Building Diploma and a Renewable Energy Technology Diploma. After working three years in the home design industry, Jenny was ready to follow in her elders’ footsteps of becoming an entrepreneur. She founded Pippin Home Designs in 1986 and moved into a rental on Lake Norman, NC. This home gave her the firsthand experience of the
24 - AIBD magazine
