Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx with Lauren Haupt

Lauren Haupt is seriously one of my favorite jewelry designers…I own a couple of her pieces and could easily spend about $300 in her shop right now. I’m so pleased that Lauren agreed to let me pick her brain in an interview for Wednesday Indie Artist Fixx.

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1. What’s the name of your business, what do create and sell and how did you get your start?

My business is Lauren Haupt Jewelry, but if you recognize my work from Etsy, you’ll see my user name is LocalLibrary. It’s an old name, I first created with Etsy and unfortunately unchangeable, unless I start a new shop account.

I am a creator/designer/constructor of necklaces and earrings. After realizing in college that furniture design wasn’t for me, I moved on and took a few metals and jewelry classes and fell in love. I love creating with my hands and this allowed me to continue to create material pieces while experimenting on a smaller scale with different styles, materials and ideas. A few months later, I took a part-time job at a bead shop where I gained invaluable information about materials, resources, trends and fabricating jewelry with beads, chain and wire. These are the skills I primarily employ, while I envision the future to hold a fully functional metalsmithing studio.

I heard about Etsy in a magazine I believe (Readymade?) and decided to sign up, post some new jewelry and see what happened. I freaked out when I saw not one, but two necklaces sell. And I realized I had no idea what to do next! I didn’t have packaging, business cards, anything really. It’s been a learning, discovering, resolving process ever since.

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2. What are your inspirations in your art and life?

My inspiration come from everywhere; art mimicking life, life mimicking art. I have been inspired to create a piece from a chair I saw on display at MoMA, just as easily as I’ve found myself putting in an outfit I wouldn’t normally be drawn to because I’ve been inspired by a pair of earrings or necklace I’ve made.
Quality construction, complementary colors, beautiful lines, simplicity/complexity… I feel like these qualities inspire happiness and confidence in me and my goal is for that to be transferred into the jewelry I create.

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3. What’s your creative process like?

I don’t have a specific method, and it tends to come in waves. I might see one color or one shape that I love and end up creating 5 different pieces around that idea. I sit down with my materials, tools, and the ideas in my head and play around until I have something finished in my hands and am leaping out of my chair to go try on in front of the mirror. Although it’s not always easy and it can be discouraging, especially if I work for a long time on a piece and have to throw up my hands and call it a day. One of my goals for this new year is to try out something I learned back in my furniture design classes: Measure twice, cut once.

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4. Share something silly about yourself.

I am currently taking a cake decorating class! I’m so excited by it. I don’t have these aspirations to become a big fancy cake-shop owner but I’m excited about showing up with an awesome cake for someone’s birthday. Or maybe if I’m at the grocery store and I overhear at the bakery counter that no one is available to customize a birthday cake from the cooler, I could jump in a save the day! A girl can dream…

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5. What blogs and mags do you read and what shops do you shop at?

Oh gosh, too many of both. It is sort of a joke among friends how many magazine subscriptions my fiancé and I have for one household but I really started jumping on the band wagon after Dominio went under and now Gourmet. I felt guilty about stealing the knowledge for free from Barnes and Noble.
I use Google Reader to organize all the blogs I check, three favorites being Moco Loco, The Dieline, and Smitten Kitchen. I don’t even feel right about naming those because they are so many more I love too! *couIndieFixxgh*

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6. What 3 things can’t you live without?

1. My soon-to-be-husband, Alex. 2. My dog, Zen. 3. And my computer: it’s my business’ lifeline.

7. What’s new or in the works?

I’m glad you asked… I’m in the process of creating some pieces from my most popular ‘wings’ collection in all sterling silver. I’m very excited. I don’t have anything final ready yet, so I can’t honestly say how beautiful and amazing they will be, but I have a good feeling.

I would also like to say thank you to everyone out there that took the time to read this and/or has purchased (or received and worn) something from Lauren Haupt Jewelry. I am so truly grateful.

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