LaurenaRty
Interview #37 - LaurenaRty
Good afternoon and I hope that you all reading are having a lovely Sunday and that the weekend is going great so far! I have now, as of Friday officially, finished my exams, therefore, my semester is over and I now have some weeks off before I have to worry about that again. Which means, that this blog will be getting all of my attention! I have so many ideas and things planned to be done that I cannot wait to share with you all, this may or may not include a potential website re-do…!!! With so many businesses up my sleeve, there are so many stories that you all want to hear. I am currently taking interviews again now that my exams are over so if you’re a business wanting to be featured on this page, make sure to message me, I’d love to collab!
Now, onto this week’s blog post, I had the pleasure of writing about a fairly different type of business, LaurenaRty is a small business, Melbourne based, that sells a range of different, unique and spontaneous arty creations that include, but not limited to, ceramics, stickers, resin, paintings, totes and much more! I had the pleasure of speaking to the creative mind behind the artworks and I loved learning more about how she came to start selling her work as well as setting up her business.
MEET LAUREN!
Lauren is the creative mind behind the art you see on her page. Even though this business is her side hobby, she still puts her heart and soul into all the works that she creates. Lauren has been doing art for as long as she can remember and has grown up surrounded by art. With her mum as an art teacher for many years and having grown up in South Africa, she has been surrounded by culture and art which sparked her interest and motivation to create her pieces. Even though Lauren is not classically trained in fine arts, she has taught herself everything she knows about creating art, by going to art classes as a child, doing it as a subject in year 12 and only having studied it as an elective at university, art has never left her and has fuelled her passion even more.
The ultimate dream that Lauren has for her business, even though it is a side hobby, would be to do art full time but at the moment, this is a side hobby that the hopes to pursue along the side of other work she is currently doing. Every time that Lauren makes a sale through her Etsy store, she gets excited and happy and knows that she is continuously achieving her goal to make people happy with her art.
Do you think you’ll focus on one specific area of art in the future or continue to differentiate your range?
“That has been a question to myself ever since I started. When I was creating art just for fun and before I created an Etsy store for my business, it didn’t really matter because I just did anything but it seems, it’s kinda hard because I don’t want to narrow myself down but maybe I will narrow down what I sell because it would seem to be very hard to upkeep different materials. For example, I do ceramics which takes so much longer to create than stickers or resin which can get done in around 48 hours. So in terms of that and being able to have access to materials in the future, it will be difficult.”
When initially starting the business, or more so when Lauren started selling her own artwork, it started with her older sister who gave her encouragement to start going through social media which was the first step to creating this persona that Lauren has. After about a month, Lauren decided to set up her Etsy store, with the mentality of what could she lose and even if it did go sideways, there was always the option to back out of it. This was the first steps of where her concept originated from to start selling her own work. Along with this, she has gotten inspiration and motivation not only from her sister that helped her to get her work out there but also other artists on Instagram. When starting out on Instagram, there was a struggle to find her own style of art for it to be recognisable to LaurenaRty. With art being a huge part of her life, taking inspiration from others on Instagram by getting the motivation to make her own work, it allows her to have lots of different styles and patterns that can be attributed to her style, so the inspiration for her art comes from all aspects of her life.
Lauren has gone through many phases with her art in one form or another but no matter what, art has always been there. Even though there have been times where it hasn’t been at the forefront, but this is something that she always comes back to.
What tips would you give to someone who is an aspiring artist wanting to sell their own work?
“I think first go for it, I’m sure everyone said that but also that you have to love your art and what you fo more than anything because it is really hard to run a business, I'm not doing a very good job at it and the thing is that maybe I would say that art comes first but then a business-oriented person would say business comes first but to run a successful business then maybe the business side comes first. I really think that you gotta love what you do and be willing to spend a lot of time just making bad artwork that you may not put for sale, but for practice, but you gotta live your business. Not every second but it has to be part of you because even for creative and art businesses, they aren’t the sort of thing that you can shove to the side, it’s happened before and there was a point where my Etsy store existed but had nothing in it. So you have to put effort into running it because it is difficult but I wouldn’t change it for the world.”
In the more beginning stages of her business, Lauren wished that she would have done more research initially, but everything she has learned, she has learned along the way while running her business. Lauren has joined multiple support groups about art and business alike, but even then, everything she learns from them is along the way and appreciates all the support she has been able to get, especially for the things like money that may get confusing at times. Lauren hopes that she can just create art for anyone who would like to enjoy it, there is no specific target that Lauren tries to meet but rather creates art for herself and who will feel happy to have it in their homes.
Just like other businesses, especially those that start to sell their own artwork, in particular, there is always going to be some doubt and for Lauren that she definitely had some self-doubt. She is a big believer in giving something a go and it was hard at the start for her to jump into the void that Instagram tends to be with the thought that there may not be anyone finding her page, let along with her artwork. But even then, she still has doubt about her work but has since learned to claim herself as the artist she is and even if there is someone that doesn’t like what she does, they don’t have to follow or like it. Lauren is continuously working on her work and the doubt that she has, because I think like most people when starting their business, they would post for the sake of posting, and Lauren is no stranger to that. With learning along the way and being part of multiple Facebook groups have helped grow as a person and limit the doubt she may have.
I loved learning more about LaurenaRty and finding out about how she got started and what she hopes to achieve with the business. In Lauren’s art, she is not afraid to use colour and is also not afraid to show off the imperfections that may sometimes be seen. Whenever someone buys from her, she always gets so excited because she always wants to show people that what you see is what you get and that you don’t need fancy equipment in order to create great art. Every piece she makes, she puts everything into it because she knows that there is always someone out there for everything. Having wonky lines or a bubble in a resin piece isn’t the be all end all but rather makes her art more perfect with the imperfections.
How would you describe your business/art in one sentence?
Bright, colourful and living its best life
Thank you for reading another week of this post with another business that I hope somewhat inspires you. Thank you to Lauren for taking the time to have a chat with me about her art and her business. Make sure to check out her Instagram HERE and Etsy store with the button to look at more artworks that she has, you will not be sorry!
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