We were lucky to catch up with Laura Kirar recently and have shared our conversation below.
Laura, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. What’s been the most meaningful project you’ve worked on?
The most meaningful project I ever worked on has been the one that is ongoing, the project that I consider part of my life’s work and destiny – Hacienda Subin in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula. Back in 2007, while traveling in Mexico and starting a material exploration in natural fibers, I discovered an abandoned & ruined hacienda and I have been restoring it – slowly – until now. It is incredibly meaningful not just because it is a project of my own, but this project – for my family – has been a teacher to me. I learned to do business in another country, learned a new culture and language, gained knowledge on new and old building techniques, worked hand and hand with local artisans, and because of this property, I became a part-time archeologist and full time dog-mom to 14 street rescues. Above all Hacienda Subin has served as a place for creative inspiration, for gatherings of fascinating people and a refuge for friends and family who all come to take in “the good vibes.” This place – this project – has laid the foundation for a very well-lived and interesting life that is meant to be shared.
Laura, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
My company, Laura Kirar Design has two main branches – providing interior design & architectural services, curation of art and accessories for our interiors and creation of client focused custom furniture. Laura Kirar Design also creates licensed product collections for international manufacturers and home brands.
As the founder and creative director of LKD, I consider myself an artist first and approach all my work – especially major projects – from the vantage point of conceptual exploration and expression as the main driver to produce unique results that are specific to the client or design brief.
I have a degree from the Art Institute of Chicago where I was encouraged to explore many materials, mediums and disciplines. It is with that philosophical foundation of “explorative creative freedom” that I’ve crafted my own creative practice. I found my way to product design and interior architecture by way of sculpture – first creating non-functional conceptual “domestic” objects. An early collector of my work gave me my first opportunity in the commercial world, first as part of an architectural team and then learning the technical skills needed to do furniture design. The fast trajectory of my career pretty much evolved from there; working for brands like Holly Hunt and Ralph Lauren. My studio, Laura Kirar Design, was founded in 1999.
From the beginning, Laura Kirar Design has been a multi-disciplinary studio. LKD has conceived and directed at the helm of high-end residential interiors, hospitality rebranding and interior concepts, commercial projects in both retail and restaurant design. LKD often leads the selected project team in overall vision and interior details.
Simultaneous to LKD’s interiors work, the licensing arm of LKD creates branded product collections for some of the world’s largest home fashion companies under the copyrighted name LAURA KIRAR ™. Our current partnerships and collections include Kohler Co/Kallista, Baker & McGuire Furniture, Arteriors Home, Samuel & Sons Passementerie as well as ghost design partnerships.
In 2019 LKD branched into hospitality and retail by created our own boutique hotel brand – MESóN Hidalgo – in San Miguel de Allende. Inside the walls of MESóN Hidalgo – LKD sells our own colorful and socially conscious home and fashion product that we produce in collaboration with artisan communities all over Mexico. It is our mission to champion women-owned creative businesses and most recently we opened ‘MESóN Moda Colectivo’ – that features 9 emerging women-run fashion brands.
Independently I continue my fine-art discipline creating one-off conceptual sculpture and collectable objects in the mediums of metal, ceramic, wood and fiber. I am currently represented by Gallery Maison Gerard in New York City. My artwork often plays a role in our interior projects – complimenting other art and collectible design we curate for our clients.
For LKD, saying “yes” to a new project means that it meets our trifecta of requirements: the project is an interesting creative opportunity, the project has a realistic budget, and the project has amicable clients open to our in-depth processes. This trifecta is applicable whether it be a project for commissioned art or furniture, an interior design concept, a hospitality rebranding or a licensed home collection, for example. We love redefining relevance and redesigning for the now across all creative expressions. We love a unique challenge.
LKD is small but mighty. Our foundation team consists of 5 full time senior level professionals. We often expand when a larger project demands it, utilizing our long standing “talent for hire” relationships with professional design-consultants all over the world, thus allowing LKD the ability to work from anywhere and create projects everywhere.
Can you open up about a time when you had a really close call with the business?
When I started my practice in 1999, it was an unexpected and organic start. Up to this point I had been almost 100% focused on designing product – furniture, lighting, rugs, textiles etc. for my employers brands and clients. But suddenly I found myself flooded with calls to design and decorate interiors for clients of my own. Some residential but the biggest and juiciest projects were conceptual and rebranding for a large hospitality group. That work filled our financial coffers well for 2 years and then September 11, 2001 happened and the world – and our commercial related design business – changed overnight. No one was traveling and hospitality design budgets took a huge hit. All of our hospitality contracts were frozen and none would recover, With a staff of 8 I knew I had to pivot focus quickly to salvage the business and keep my team employed. So I shifted our focus to high end residential interior design – pushing harder on those inquires and personal introductions and contacts. It proved to be the right move as the public still had money to spend – but at that time they preferred to spend it at home. I also made a simultaneous effort to add to my product design licenses. In 2001, I had 2 licenses to design furniture and textile collections for contract companies. By the economy’s arguable recovery point of 2005 – the Laura Kirar brand had 8 licenses – 4 with one of the words largest privately held companies. Now the collections I was creating were more for the insulated luxury market. Without knowing it, the decisions I made would pivot LKD toward what was a more stable market that moved us squarely into high end residential work. Also balancing our project roster between interior architecture and product licensing – two very different business models with different day to day functions. I think it was the forced diversification in 2001 that would prove to make me and LKD more flexible – dare I say we become “recession proof” – which helped us brave the future financial crisis years of 2008/9. We have endured tight times but never had to lay-off employees for lack of work or have ever missed a payroll.
What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?
The most rewarding aspect of being an artist is my connection and communication with ideas, discoveries, people and the world at large. I could not have done anything else in my life but be an artist. What I mean to say is that, yes, I could have selected another profession but I think that I would have been very unhappy as an accountant – for example. I believe there is art and creativity in everything but let’s face it…”creative accountants” tend to get in trouble! I have always needed the capacity to dream, to imagine, to challenge and to communicate with others on a level of experience and discovery. When those connections are made – when that spark happens between my work and the public it’s a huge rush for me. Athletes talk about preforming in “the zone” and I can honestly say that is what it feels like for me when I see people with my work.
Contact Info:
- Website: LauraKirar.com shoplaurakirar.com
- Instagram: @laurakirar @mesonhidalgomx
- Facebook: LauraKirar
- Linkedin: Laura Kirar
- Youtube: Laura Kirar
Image Credits
Pepe Molina – MESóN Hidalgo images