Instead of going corporate, I went ETSY!
When I was 13 I went to Canyon Ranch with my mother in Tucson, AZ. At nighttime they had various activities, and one night we went to a beading class. I learned how to use a crimp bead and make a simple bracelet. I was hooked. When we got home I swapped out my elastic and seed bead collection for beading wire and crimp beads. For the next year or so I took all of the money I made babysitting and went to Michael's and local bead stores to stock up on beads.
When my mom recognized that this was more than just a hobby she took me to the international gem show. It was so overwhelming! I went from looking at small containers of beads to tables and tables covered with gemstones I had never even heard of!
Before I knew it I had a huge inventory of made jewelry, and my mom helped me sign up for the local sidewalk sale. I just had a little fold up table with a table cloth. I printed all of the tags at home and cut them with 'fancy scissors', and Lauren Handler Designs was born. The first day I sold everything I had put out. I went home that evening and was up all night making more jewelry so I wouldn't have an empty table.
After the sidewalk sale I began doing benefits and other sidewalk sales, at the same time I was a high school student and played two varsity sports.
I taught myself to work with chain, wire, make earrings, etc., I was eager to experiment and embrace my favorite hobby. When I started college my jewelry became a winter/summer job, until my junior year when I decided to open an ETSY shop.
I figured it would be a way to continue Lauren Handler Designs during the school year when I didn't have too much free time outside of class. I began selling jewelry all over world, which was something I never thought I would be able to do. I love to think about people wearing my jewelry while walking along the beach in Australia or down the Champs-Élysées in Paris.
After graduation Lauren Handler Designs moved from the heart of Chicago to a small town outside of Atlanta. There aren't many marketing or advertising firms down here, so I didn't know what to do for a post graduation career. My husband has always been so supportive of Lauren Handler Designs, and by his suggestion I have become a full time jewelry designer.
I never looked at Lauren Handler Designs as something I would do full time, I knew it would always be there, but I thought I would have to have a nine to five job and LHD would just be a hobby. Now, I get to make jewelry full time.
We are now even moving to a bigger house so I can have a real 'office/studio'!!!! Until now I have always taken over the family room! Right now I have my packing center in the dining room, photo center in the family room, my work in progress tray in the family room, my supplies in the guest bedroom closet and my made jewelry on my husbands desk. It's my organized chaos, and I will finally be able to have my own room to take over!
Lauren Handler Designs continues to grow and evolve, but I always stay true to what I started with: I will not make a piece of jewelry that I would not wear myself.
