We recently connected with Lourdes Mendoza and have shared our conversation below.

Lourdes, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.

The pandemic brought us a great deal of uncertainty accompanied by fear. When I started Atelier Nido, at first it was just a “hobby” to deal with lockdown anxiety and stress. Spending so much time at home I wanted to make my place the “nest” to always feel joyful, colorful, and welcoming. Not that I didn’t love my place it was just that after always having to work outside I barely took time to set up a place now I would be 24/7.

To do so I started to buy online plants, and felt I needed my nest to be more colorful, I had gig posters that made me nostalgic but also the greenery just felt off.

After sharing my work as a hobby just to soothe the lockdown anxiety, my plant dealers asked me: what if you sell these? The first thing I thought was: too much hassle, what if people don’t understand it?

After several attempts (me saying no and my plant dealers asking me frequently) I said, why not?  I think human beings are adaptable beings in which through adversity we’ve been able to adapt and find a solution.

My biggest fear was that like many business owners, I would fail, but if I never took the leap of faith I would never know.

This year was Atelier Nido’s second anniversary, full of happy customers, lots of life/business lessons, and so much to thrive.

Lourdes, 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?

I’m a Mexican graphic designer and illustrator enthusiast with over 10 years of experience. Working on branding, illustration, and packaging for national and international brands.

The pandemic taught me how to keep stress away from lockdown by becoming a plant lady. Atelier Nido was born by combining two of my favorite things illustration and nature.

I started to paint planters at first for myself and later one day my plant dealers came to deliver a big plant and asked me if I sold any, I told them it was just a hobby. They insisted on making me go big with it. At first, it was a bit scary since I knew nothing about a small business; income, expenses, costs, taxes, etc.

And now after a huge learning curve (still learning though) throughout half of 2021 this project has become a second income and a lifesaver for anxiety and my plant dealers my first-hand distributors.

How can we best help foster a strong, supportive environment for artists and creatives?

As a friend once told me, sharing is caring, sharing is essential for the cultural and economic vitality of a society.

It doesn’t always involve buying my pots, but more of a cycle between my customers and other fellow creatives. Even if it’s just sharing a post of the fair I’m going to, telling a friend about my work or just helping me in some sort of way is something that has helped me.

On a more global scale, some ways would be investments in art education from an early age, funding to support artists and creative projects, accessible workspaces, public art initiatives, and promoting cultural diversity, among others.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

My mom passed away last December, it was such a huge plot twist for my business (and life) since I had to juggle between my current job as a designer, going to the hospital, and also keeping up with art fairs, on-demand painted pots, deliveries, and one solo business requirements.

I thought of giving up, Atelier Nido was no longer taking away my anxiety and was more of a stress enhancer than a soothing activity. Still, I think that when a project or the path you’re taking is the right one, no matter how much you put it on hold, or think it won’t work out it comes back to you and reminds you it will work out.

After my loss, on this march, I thought of giving it a go and said if it doesn’t thrive I’ll let it go. After several months  Atelier Nido is still running and strong! I think this is the right path for me because it’s the constant reminder that when it’s for you it always works out.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/atelier.nido/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lourdes-mendoza-50957a33/?locale=en_US

Image Credits
I took them myself