Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Lauren Oland. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Lauren, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today How did you come up with the idea for your business?
One of my favorite childhood television shows was Reading Rainbow. When I was around four years old, they presented a story about a little girl who makes a quilt with her grandmother from pieces of various clothing items that represent special family memories. The book was called The Patchwork Quilt, by Valerie Flournoy. Something about that book really spoke to me. After seeing that, I had to try to create like that too! By late high school, my studio art teacher helped me get special permission to walk to a local yarn shop so that I could learn as much as possible. I went to college, soon after, to study apparel and textiles.
I didn’t remember this very first spark until later, but subconsciously I carried an interest in working specifically in sustainable apparel design and encouraging creative expression through what we wear in my work. I went to school for apparel and textiles. After seeing so much textile waste and lack of awareness for socially conscious practices during my internship in NYC, I left the corporate scene faster than I randomly found myself in it to seek a career with more mindful attention to the way things are made.
After college but before my work life evolved into producing the textiles, goods, and marketing for my business Mezamé by Lauren, I was a fiber art instructor throughout the Midwest. In 2013, I coordinated the education and outreach for an exhibition at the Goldstein Museum of Design in St. Paul, Minnesota about fashion and sustainability. I always knew leading up to this opportunity that sustainability was important to me within design and the arts and I was recruited for the position because the curators remembered this theme in my work during my college days. The exhibit cited five overarching themes of sustainability found in fashion and in the education materials that I developed, we helped guests learn that we can choose to consume sustainable clothing in these many ways and that often, clothing can be sustainable in more than one way. The themes were versatility, alternative construction and techniques, repurposed materials, emotional connection, and valuing resources.
Learning through my work, my career began to make a lot more sense. I was cultivating awareness for the value of textiles, what we wear, and the self expression that we explore through these things through the classes I taught.
But then, as a part of the outreach I put together a workshop including classes on different sustainable fiber art techniques. I observed a workshop about SAORI- a freeform method of weaving which is always sustainably practiced during the workshops and I fell in love. I signed up for private classes right away and I just couldn’t get enough! It was easy to incorporate sustainably sourced and remnant yarns into the work, while also creatively exploring endlessly. The cloth designs I created were expressive and always one-of-a-kind due to the free-form nature of the technique, so the work innately drew in people who also valued self expression through apparel choices and who were willing to pay a bit more for something that was very obviously created without harmful environmental and social production practices.
I purchased the full set up- loom, warp board, and needed tools without delay. I think that concerned my very new husband at the time! We were just starting out, we were still in the midst of the recession, and we were pretty broke! But I just had a feeling. I told him with confidence that the money wouldn’t matter, in the end. That it would more than pay itself off. But given our financial backdrop, I definitively didn’t have the ability to dive right into a career in weaving full time…yet.
I read in a book written for womxn entrepreneurs that it can be helpful to set your business goals based on the life that you want to have, rather than an outlandish dream salary figure. So that is just what I did. I imagined how if I pursued this work-life, that I could be flexible for my family’s needs, especially if I had kids one day and that I would never have to fully step back from my career regardless of what came up for myself personally. I also was already teaching technically as an independent contractor, so it was easy to slowly add more and more income through my tiny handmade business since the tax details, etc, were essentially the same. I knew of a few industry professionals who had taught me and it seemed that they perhaps taught and sold their own designs in a 50/50 structure. I was excited to set that as a goal. I had no concept that I would begin to sell my work full-time and stop teaching anytime soon. I just wasn’t all that confident! And financially I couldn’t imagine making that leap. But in sourcing my materials through remnants, my start up costs were incredibly low other than the loom. It became easier and easier to purchase more jackets and yarns to keep going and make each batch of handwoven items a bit larger than the last one…
It started to become hard to keep up with teaching!!! Mezamé was becoming quite busy and I suddenly was a mom to two little ones as well. In 2015, I decided to put together a more curated logo, business card etc, and that is when things really took off. It was not an easy decision to drop teaching- but it was necessary at that point.
I love that I let things unfold. I am not always the most patient of people so the story of my business continues to inspire me, actually. It is something that I always need to keep in mind when my attempts to drive opportunities in one direction or the other don’t work how I envisioned they would.. or when they surprisingly work in a very exciting way that I never imagined that they could. It’s part of what we all learn in small business and it is something to be very proud of!
I am now honored to have been in business full-time for seven years. I have a decent sized online following of around 5,000 in total and they are all real people I have met at countless art shows, fairs, festivals, and by word of mouth and they are so supportive. I continue to create with remnants and locally sourced fibers only and I maintain a zero waste studio. This process brings a large variety of sizes and price points to my handwoven collection that I will always feel so honored to share.
Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers
Mezamé (reawaken) by Lauren Artist Statement:
Lauren’s meditative handwoven work is unified through a mission to create modern one-of-a-kind wearable items in her zero waste studio. Lauren’s signature style is inspired by the play between negative and positive space, landscape, abstract art, musical patterns, and color theory. Her items are created with remnants and locally sourced fibers from regional farms. Every part of the cloth she weaves is used down to the smallest remnant for the various items. This sustainable and thoughtful creation of goods brings a large variety of sizes and price point options. Favorite items include meditation shawls, bandana cowls, signature reclaimed denim jackets, mantra keychains, mending kits, goddess cocoon robes and kaftan tops. Each weaving is unique and made with great attention to detail, composition, and a balance between calming and invigorating patterns, textures and colors yielding pieces that inspire joy, moments for self care, and a celebration of individuality and creative self expression.
Lauren graduated from the University of Minnesota with a Bachelor of Science in Clothing Design in 2009. She coordinated fashion shows and taught textiles, sustainable design and fiber art from 2008-2017. She began her business Mezamé (reawaken) by Lauren in 2013 and went full time with it in 2015. She has been honored to win “Best in Show, Craft” at the Ashley Festival of the Arts (2019), Honorable Mention at Art in the Park- Appleton, Wisconsin (2019), Best in Category at Fall into the Arts- New Braunfels, Texas (2021), have her work featured on Etsy’s television commercials (2020), and sell her work globally online, at art shows, countless shops and galleries throughout the United States for the last thirteen years.
Lauren’s business has organically evolved and grown. She travels to a variety of national shows while continuing to expand her presence online. She stands for inclusivity through her brand and for the fashion industry at large, advocates for sustainable consumer choices, supporting small artisan brands, and the continued importance of choosing styles that express one’s autonomy and comfort everyday. Her collection, Mezamé, is one way of many that we can support those ideals. The business often feels more like a calling than a job because it is still filled with passion, creative expression and each item is always made with care.
What’s been the best source of new clients for you?
Word of mouth! This is such a big deal for small businesses like me!!
When someone tells me that they have shared my business at the request of their friends or admirers who have seen my client wearing my work, I always thank them and tell them just how important this is. Then I offer them more business cards to share since they are clearly an amazing model!
Recently, someone who lives in Canada reached out to me and purchased one of my fanny packs. She told me that she will be planning to purchase more in time. She found my work at a U.S. airport! Someone was wearing one of my signature Mezamé Paneled Denim in the TSA line and many people were asking where it came from!
When people share my work with those around them, it means a lot for my business financially but it also means a lot to me personally- someone loved wearing my work, someone else saw this expression through clothing, loved it, and it brought that person joy too :)
Do you sell on your site, or do you use a platform like Amazon, Etsy, Cratejoy, etc?
I have recently switched from an Etsy page to a website through Squarespace. I love my new website! I love that there are so many more creative options. I can talk a lot more about my process, my philosophies and what my business means to me. I can share links to my social media, articles about myself and stories about the different items. To me, these things feel important to have the space to share. Etsy was a lot more formulated. That was good for me when I was just starting out.
I love that I get to identify and define my own policies now as well. Creative processes can lead to different shipping timelines, etc, and it is good to have the space to explain all that and thus guide my clients to the appropriate expectations. It also has been helpful because I can create a plan to pay quite a bit less in fees, etc with using a website. I didn’t expect a website to cost less overall but it does. A big challenge with my own site is directing traffic to it. So far, most of my sales have been through social media and long-term followers. An opportunity for my business this coming Fall/holiday season will be getting new viewers onto my site to find my work. I am excited to learn more about that!
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mezamebylauren.squarespace.com/config/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mezamebylauren/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MezamebyLauren
- Linkedin: NA
- Twitter: NA
- Yelp: NA