ABOUT LAUREN
I'm Lauren Mollica. I design and build my work from my home workshop in Norwalk, Connecticut.
I grew up around creative and resourceful people who made things and figured out how to make or fix things. My mom and grandmother painted as a hobby, my grandfather was an engineer who turned to jewelry making and stained glass in his retirement, and I had an aunt who worked in carpentry, building houses at a time when that was unusual for a woman. I loved to draw, paint, sew and make beaded jewelry.
But it was in my seventh-grade wood shop class where something really clicked.
THE FIRST SPARK
Discovering the scroll saw in 7th grade wood shop class felt like magic. For the first time, I realized I could take something from my imagination, draw it, cut it from wood, and turn it into an actual object I could hold in my hands. That year, I designed and built my first wall-mounted jewelry display as a gift for my mom. She used it for the next 20 years.
I didn't really woodwork again for many years. I went to college in Colorado, eventually moved back to Connecticut, and began a career in finance.
Years later, with the encouragement of a career counselor, I found my way back to woodworking. I bought my first scroll saw, slowly put together a workshop purchasing machinery bit by bit, and started teaching myself through plenty of trial and error, first while working full time and later while raising my two sons.
What I rediscovered was the same thing I'd loved about that seventh-grade woodshop class: the fun of starting with an idea and figuring out how to bring it to life.
WHAT I DO NOW
Between custom projects, I create small collections that give me the freedom to keep exploring new ideas. I've learned over the years that this is an essential part of my creative process. I'm happiest in the workshop when I'm experimenting, figuring something out, and making something I haven't made before. Creating in small collections lets me explore an idea fully without feeling tied to making the same pieces again and again and keeps me excited about whatever I might make next.
And sometimes a design gets to take on another life through my Patterns for Makers. I love being able to share a design with another maker, give them a starting place, and encourage them to take it somewhere I might never have imagined.
It all comes back to the simple joy of making things.
Time in my workshop is grounding and meditative. It's a place to experiment, solve problems, and play, to then hopefully create something that didn't exist like it before. Whether I'm making something for a collection or sharing a design that inspires someone else to create their own version, I hope a little of that joy of creative freedom and expression gets passed along.
