Makers: Lana from Lana’s Shop

Starting a new column today. As a maker myself, I appreciate other makers and want to celebrate them and what they do. Every so often, I will post about a maker I admire. A few simple interview questions to get to know them better and images of their work will make up this Maker column. I know you will love them just as much as I do.

Welcome Lana from Lana’s Shop! I knew of Lana’s work before I ‘knew’ her. And after loving her work, I had to get to know her. She is a gifted illustrator whose watercolor skills are envy-inducing. Lana has worked for Vogue, designed clothes for Kids and Baby Gap and shared her killer skills in a Design Camp class last January at Alt Summit. Here’s a little more about her in her own voice.

Who are you and what do you do?

I’m Lana of Lana’s Shop, a custom illustration and design boutique recognized for providing tailored hand-painted illustrations and lettering. My goal is to bring an extra touch of something personal into every wedding suite, portrait, logo, branding design and custom cards I create. All my projects have brought me such joy. There is no greater feeling than seeing a client’s delight when a project is complete. (Check out her project page. Amazing!)

How did you get here?

With luck on my side, I began my career path at Vogue as a Graphic Designer. Through my colleague’s kind encouragement, I was able to create original illustrations for invitations and birthday cards for the staff. Through the incredible power of word of mouth, requests kept happily coming in for custom projects. After six years in the grind of the corporate, high paced world of fashion and publishing, I just knew what I needed to do! So I packed up and moved to Colorado where I set up a studio in my Denver home, and dedicated myself full time to Lana’s Shop. It’s incredibly exciting and I’m loving every moment of it!

Tell us about your day.

I sleepwalk directly into the kitchen to make French press coffee, then drive the boyfriend to work (we’re a one car family for now). After I water the flowers, I reply to email for a few hours over the news. Then, I make my way into my studio, turn on Spotify, and paint the whole day away! Sometimes I’m in my PJs all day. (Just kidding! Kind of…)

What inspires you? How do you stay inspired?

Where I’m living usually inspires me a ton. In New York City, it was the people, and in San Francisco, it was the insanely gorgeous architecture. Now being in Colorado, it’s definitely nature! Hiking and being anywhere near the mountains is my new favorite getaway.

I’m still a tangible magazine type of girl. I have this huge, creatively messy inspiration binder that I’ve been updating for years. I’ll spend hours at a time cutting out images from catalogs, magazines and postcards, then I organize them into different sections of the binder, like “shoes,” “household objects,” “hats” and more! You could say it’s my old school way of doing Pinterest. There is just something about it being cut out that helps me play and envision my project more naturally.

If you weren’t an illustrator, you would be a _________.

If I weren’t an illustrator, I would be an art teacher for little ones…if teaching weren’t so
nerve-racking! When I taught my first art class at Alt Summit – man, oh man, was I nervous!

Thank you, Lana! I too have a binder filled with magazine tears. It needs some major organization at the moment however. And painting the day away sounds dreamy. PJs or not. :)

For more Lana, you can find her here:

Email: Lana@LanasShop.com
Web: www.LanasShop.com
Shop: www.etsy.com/shop/LanasShop
Pinterest: www.pinterest.com/LanasShop
Instagram: @lanasshop
Twitter: @lanasshop

But there is one more thing! Lana was kind enough to kick off this column with a giveaway. The details are below.

Up for grabs:

One (1) box set of Lana’s Hearts for You blank cards. The box includes 10 cards with grey envelopes and the cards are printed locally on Cotton Paper. They are hand packaged in a crystal clear protective box. (They are lovely!)

Here’s how you can win:

1. Comment below and you are entered!

The contest will close on Sunday at 9:00pm CST and the winner will be announced on Monday.

Thank you and good luck!

GIVEAWAY IS CLOSED

Winner: Jenna!

This is not a sponsored post. I have hand chosen the makers because I like their work. To keep the style and look of this blog, I did photograph their work myself. The pieces were then returned to their makers.