Featured Seller: Le Animalé

leanimale

Story by leanimale

Published on Dec 19, 2011 in Shop

Photo by leanimale

Tell us a bit about yourself.
I’m Laura, and I make the cute little animals of le animalé. I was born and raised in North Carolina and currently live in Raleigh with my soulmate, Anand, and our two awesome dogs. Even though I grew up in the South, I don’t consider myself a particularly Southern gal, but I do love me some sweet tea and biscuits. Mmm.

I started my first business as a freelance photographer before I graduated from college. I did that until I opened le animalé, which I now work on full time. Working for yourself and having a creative business definitely has its challenges, like anything else, but I absolutely love it.

Apart from creating things, what do you do?
When I’m not creating, I love to spend time with friends and family. I like playing board games or having dinner and great conversation. Sometimes after a long work day it’s nice to just veg out and watch some TV with Anand and the dogs. I love traveling and exploring new places, and I look forward to going back to India next year. What an incredible place. I hope to visit South Africa one day as well. When I can, I keep up with my other creative hobbies like playing saxophone, painting, and photography. I also enjoy reading and learning about a variety of subjects: languages (le animalé is made up, by the way), geography, business, animals, psychology and whatever else strikes my fancy at the time. I have too many interests to tackle in one life time, but I’m going to do my best.

What would be the title of your memoir? Why?
I feel like it would be tough to title my memoir at this point in the story, but if I had to, I might just call it Everything is Awesome. I guess that kind of sums up my outlook. I always try to remind myself of this fact, especially when I’m feeling upset or discouraged. I’ve never been a super optimistic person, but I’ve come a long way from my seemingly natural state of pessimism into a nice, neutral, realistic attitude. I see beauty in so many places and always find myself getting excited about the littlest things. Everything is awesome.

Where does your inspiration come from?
Perhaps the more appropriate question would be, “Where doesn’t your inspiration come from?” For instance, I remember a breakfast I had with a friend. Toward the end of our meal I looked down at the table and was inspired by the shapes, colors and arrangement of the bits of remaining food on my plate. I thought it made a nice composition. Right now I’m looking out of my window and am inspired by the gradient of colors the sunset casts over the sky. The world is just full of wonders; I’m enthralled by all kinds of details in all kinds of places, from the most mundane and unexpected to the most universally accepted forms of beauty.

What does handmade mean to you?
Handmade is about connection: between the artist and his/her work, between the product and the customer, and ultimately between the artist and the customer. The details, charm, character, effort, talent, and soul put into a handmade product also contribute to the specialness of it. There’s nothing like handmade.

Who has been most influential in your craft?
My sister and my boyfriend have both been very influential, for different reasons. My little sister and I have always been able to get together and just have a blast being creative and silly in our own little world. We’ve worked on creative projects together since we were young. My boyfriend is always incredibly supportive of my ideas and believes in me. He pushes me to pursue what I love and inspires me everyday to work hard and be a good person.

When did you know you were an artist/maker?
I distinctly recall the very first “a-ha” moment I had about this. I was in the first grade and I’d illustrated a book report — I don’t remember the book, but the illustration was a fat little elephant in a yellow t-shirt. That was the first time I really thought, “Hey, I’m good at this and I want to keep doing it.” Of course, I was never very confident about moving in the direction of an art career until the past few years, when I realized that I really can make it happen if it’s what I want. You just have to work hard and be smart about it. Fortunately, I’ve found that I also have a passion for business, so the marriage of those two works out for the best.

How would you describe your creative process?
My creative process has always been very organic and spontaneous. I’ve tried to be more calculated in my creative process, but it’s never turned out very well. I rely on my gut and let my passion for creating drive me through the process. For most of my totems I just grab a bit of clay and start sculpting. You can see some photos of my creative process here.

If you could peek inside the studio of any artist, designer or craftsman (dead or alive), who would it be?
I’d like to go to Richard MacDonald‘s studio and watch him sculpt. His work is so phenomenal.

What handmade possession do you most cherish?
I have a drawing that my brother made that really means a lot to me. He passed away in 2002 from complications of muscular dystrophy. A few years later I found his drawing in one of my sketchbooks so I framed it and put it on my wall. I even got a tattoo of it to carry around with me all the time.

How do you get out of your creative ruts?
If I’m having an insignificant rut, I just work through it. If it’s significant, then I remove myself from the project I’m working on and do something completely different to draw fresh interest and inspiration. Sometimes that means working on a different creative project in a different medium, or sometimes it means going out to see a show, movie, or concert.

Where would you like to be in ten years?
I want to be married to my soulmate, running my own successful business(es) and working in my dream studio space with concrete floors, a huge wall of north-facing windows (like seriously, an entire wall), wooden tables, and lots of cherished handmade treasures and artwork.

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