We Finally Decided to Share

We’ve been making things for a long time.

Sharing them? That’s been the harder part.

We’re Jennifer and Cindy, the two people behind Lake Life Artisans. We love creating, experimenting, figuring things out and occasionally looking at each other after something goes completely sideways and wondering whose idea this was.

Usually, it was Jennifer’s.

Two Very Different Makers

Jennifer is the crazy-idea person.

Art has been part of her life since childhood. She loves color, photography and the experimental part of creating, especially the question, “What happens if I try this?”

Sometimes something wonderful happens.

Sometimes we learn what not to do.

And sometimes Jennifer decides something needs just one more adjustment. Then another. And perhaps another after that.

She likes things to be just right before letting them go.

Cindy is much better at the letting-go part.

She has an instinct for structure, proportion, size and how things actually go together. She can take an idea floating around in Jennifer’s head and help turn it into something that works in the real world. Furniture and dimensional projects particularly suit the way she thinks and creates.

She also thinks Jennifer is slightly crazy and insists that the things Jennifer worries aren't good enough are perfectly sellable.

For the record, Cindy draws stick figures.

She is completely comfortable with this.

Jennifer is trying to learn something from her.

Fighting the Resistance

There’s a funny thing that happens when you make something yourself.

Creating it can be joyful. Sharing it can be terrifying.

Like many artists and makers, we know the little voice that asks whether something is really good enough to show anyone else. It's remarkably effective at convincing you to keep your work safely tucked away where nobody can judge it.

We’ve listened to that voice long enough.

Lake Life Artisans is our way of fighting that resistance.

So here we go.

We’re opening the workshop doors and sharing what we create.

Not just the perfectly finished pieces, either. We want to share some of the experiments, discoveries, photographs, furniture, artwork and occasional creative detours that happen along the way.

Some ideas will become things you'll find in our shop.

Some may take us somewhere completely unexpected.

And a few will probably teach us never to do that again.

That's part of creating.

Inspired by the Life Around Us

Our lives and our creativity aren't neatly separated.

The lake outside our window, our dogs, nature, places we explore and little details we notice while traveling all find their way into the things we make and the way we see the world.

We'll share glimpses of that world here, too.

But there's an important distinction.

We want to share our creative journey without turning our lives into content.

If we're standing somewhere beautiful, we might take a photograph.

Then we also want to put the camera down and actually stand there.

We think there should always be room for that.

Where This Might Lead

We have a picture of the future that makes us smile.

There’s a little place with a big workshop, preferably near home, where we work beside each other. Sometimes we're collaborating. Sometimes we're each absorbed in something completely different.

People occasionally wander in.

Maybe they see what we're working on. Maybe they stay awhile. Maybe sometimes they even make something with us.

Jennifer would love to see her photography hanging in a gallery or two.

We'd love for people to start wondering what piece of furniture Cindy is going to make next.

And we'd like our work to take us places.

Literally.

We want to travel, photograph, explore, meet interesting people, discover things and share a little of the world as we see it.

If someday somebody wants us to do some of that traveling on their dime, we certainly aren't going to argue.

Most of all, we don't want to build a business that consumes the life we're trying to enjoy.

We're building something that can come along for the ride.

Someday our workshop may even have a sign on the door:

We’ll be back at some point.

And we hope people will know that we mean it.

Come Along

You don't have to buy something to be part of Lake Life Artisans.

Of course, we're delighted when something we've created finds its person and heads off to a new home.

But we'd also love it if you simply came back to see what we're making next.

We don't know exactly where all of this will lead.

That's kind of the point.

We finally decided to share.

Welcome to Lake Life Artisans.