A Studio Visit with Lauren Skunta
I happened to find an Instagram account a few weeks ago named Elbowgreasedesign as I was scrolling aimlessly one Monday morning. I somehow managed to spend a good ten minutes on the page fascinated by not only the work featured, but the variety of content and coordinated aesthetic.
The page is, as the youths would say, “vibes” as it highlighted everything from elaborate photos of art installations to food styling, window displays, and fine-art paintings. Driven by curiosity to learn more about the creative behind the work, I did what any millennial/aspiring online publication creator/IG scroller would do. . . I sent a DM.
Quickly and with a sense of authenticity, Lauren Skunta responded to my inquiry with warmth and invitation. When I met up with her in Cleveland, I noticed right away that her workspace was a seamless collaboration of modern and intentional, with the perfect amount of ambitious expression.
Lauren’s artwork, paintings and well-curated objects were beaming with animation as we had conversations about her design philosophy, transition to full-time entrepreneur, and how Frasier, The Golden Girls and The Great British Baking Show all play an important role in her creative process.
You landed your dream job with Anthropologie as a display coordinator straight out of college. How did this role prepare you to be your own boss?
I definitely struggled finding that first job in a creative field after I graduated with my fine arts degree. I worked for a year as a waitress and had a couple of freelance gigs before getting an offer from Anthropologie.
Working as a display coordinator was an amazing boot camp to starting my own business. I learned about balancing budgets, planning a calendar with accurate timelines, giving creative presentations, and of course working in a wide variety of mediums. It made me unafraid to quote a project with a technique I’ve never used before because that was the name of the game.
We were always using a new material or a new process and there is a great network of other display coordinators that all share what worked and what didn’t while doing material tests. Most of the former display coordinators I know also started their own businesses and we still bounce ideas and share techniques with each other.
What advice would you give someone trying to become a full-time entrepreneur?
My first advice is to be financially sound before considering taking that leap. For me that meant that I had saved enough to not make a profit for at least a year because, as we all know, businesses don’t happen overnight. I wanted to give myself a fighting chance to see if I would sink or swim and a year seemed like the right amount of time to me.
Along those same lines I would recommend doing a great deal of research in pricing your product. You don’t want to undercut anyone else in the industry or get stuck in a price range where you’re working constantly and not making a profit. Talking to people, networking, getting to know the other entrepreneurs in similar or adjacent fields is probably the most important thing you can do in the beginning. That way when an opportunity comes up or you are not sure how to handle something you have some people to help you find the best route to take.
“There is something so satisfying about the instant gratification of making something beautiful on set with a team.”
As a photo stylist, art director, and large-scale installation artist, you’re really sinking your teeth into many creative pursuits. What’s a common theme in all of your work?
My passion from the beginning was creating amazing custom environments, so that led me down a few different paths.
I started out mainly creating window displays, wedding installations, and corporate or public art. Over time those skill sets led to me building sets for photo shoots, then getting the opportunity to style and art direct for photo shoots, which I found I really loved. There is something so satisfying about the instant gratification of making something beautiful on set with a team.
Usually the custom art projects I work on range from a few weeks to a few months of work for the end result. It’s so incredibly nice to balance those long term projects with creative work on photo sets which lasts between a few hours and a few days for the end result. The common theme I suppose is taking the initial idea, and creating a custom environment based on what you want to portray.
I find that my styling work now influences my artwork and vice versa.
When did you realize your company would be called,“Elbowgrease?”
This was definitely an epiphany moment for me.
Elbowgrease came to me when I was still living in NYC and I was thinking about how I wanted to present myself to encompass a wide variety of projects. What all the projects I worked on had in common was that they all involved very average materials that I planned on turning into something beautiful through a lot of manual labor.
The process is my favorite part of any project – when the planning is done and I can roll up my sleeves and get to work. So the name seemed like the perfect fit and I got very lucky that Elbowgrease LLC was available.
What is your design philosophy?
I’m such a project-based person that my philosophy is honestly just to approach every project with a fresh eye.
I use my knowledge of building things over the past decade to figure out best practices, get the constraints of the project upfront if possible, and present several options (unless there is a clear frontrunner from the beginning).
I’m typically very collaborative with the client to get the best final result.
What does being a creative mean to you?
Being a creative was a much easier word for me to swallow than calling myself an artist (which I’ve only recently started to do).
To me, it seems like being a creative encompasses such a wide variety of talents that it’s a very matter of fact word that doesn’t put pressure on anything. I’m not sure where I would be if I didn’t have my creative pursuits, so apparently it means a whole lot to me!
Your formal education is in drawing and painting and I’ve noticed that you’ve recently returned to this art form. Tell me more about that.
In February of this year I decided to take five weeks off to pursue painting because most of my portfolio was turning into sculptural work, which I love doing, but felt like I needed to showcase another side of my work.
I had been working very steadily, going from project to project for the past five years so I thought – if I don’t pivot the business towards what I want for my ideal life, it won’t actually happen. I also knew that the business side of my brain wouldn’t allow me to turn down work to focus solely on painting if I stayed in Cleveland for my sabbatical.
I decided to go full out and rent an Airbnb in Austin, TX and took the pup and the husband with me. It was such a wonderful experience. I painted every day and showed my process via Instagram stories – the good, the bad, and the ugly. And when It was time to come home it was the first week of March and the beginning of the shut down from the pandemic. Most of the jobs I had lined up for my return to Cleveland slowly were cancelled or postponed which meant that I transitioned to doing A LOT more painting. It was always something I wanted to incorporate more of but the pandemic made it a sharp transition.
What music or podcasts are you listening to in your studio?
It’s a little bit of a joke amongst friends that I almost never listen to music. I’ve constantly got television audio running in my ears while I work.
Typically it’s a series I’ve seen a million times or a little bit of reality TV that I don’t care about. Something about the constant conversation going on in my ears that I don’t have to participate in makes me focus in on the task at hand.
My go-to audio show has always been Frasier, but I’ll slip in anything from Golden Girls to the Great British Bake Off.
You’ve lived and worked in New York City and moved back to be closer to your family. How has Cleveland changed since you’ve been back?
Cleveland has such an amazing creative community. Almost everyone I encounter here wants you to succeed and wants to connect you with others who share your interests.
I didn’t have a strong network of people when I first came back here from living in NYC because I hadn’t lived in the area since I was 17. I don’t think I knew how much adoration for Cleveland I would have until I started networking here.
So for me Cleveland changed from being a place where I was from, to a place where I actively want to live.
How would you like to see Cleveland better support the creative industry?
In general I love how many businesses are headquartered in Cleveland and in my eyes they have done a pretty great job at using local creative talent when possible.
I think a lot more focus has been put on local art even in the five years that I’ve been here. I’d love to see that focus continue to grow to a point where our city is covered in a wide variety of temporary and permanent art pieces.
Who are some clients you’ve done installations for?
I’ve gotten to work with some pretty amazing clients through cold emails and networking.
I won’t ramble off a long list but a few of my most memorable experiences have been working with: JOANN, the Brooklyn Night Market, Van Aken District, Bloomingdales, Great Lakes Brewing Company, and some wonderful event clients from New York to California.
Who is a dream client for you?
I’d say my dream client changes every year but I actually had the opportunity to work with one of my dream clients this year.
I had started work on a large scale installation with the Cleveland Museum of Art for the opening of their Picasso on Paper exhibit which was slated to open in May. It was such a surreal experience when they asked if I would be interested in working with them and the process was wonderful. After my proposal was approved and details were buttoned up, the pandemic hit and ultimately the Picasso works weren’t able to be shipped to the U.S. It was a bit heartbreaking to have a dream opportunity with a dream client like that slip through my fingers but the team at CMA was such a joy to work with and it renews hope that those dream jobs are possible.
If I’m setting my sights on my next dream client I think it would be Sherwin Williams – as I have a love of color palettes and paint chips and they are a local company!
“I kept having to remind myself that my worth isn’t solely aligned with how well my business is doing.”
As a business owner, how have you been able to navigate this tough year?
This year has been tough – no getting around that. I think I made peace early on that, between choosing to take a month off and then a pandemic hitting, this was going to be one of my worst years financially.
I kept having to remind myself that my worth isn’t solely aligned with how well my business is doing. It was a practice in making art for the sake of making art again which personally is very fulfilling but it’s also tough to focus on with so much uncertainty happening.
Luckily the diversity of jobs I work on really helped to keep me on track – even though a lot of projects started canceling, I was able to keep freelance styling photographs for JOANN. I am incredibly thankful that I had that to focus on so that I wasn’t constantly consumed by how many installations I lost out on.
The year is 2021, and COVID-19 is long gone. What does an optimal year look like for you personally and professionally?
Optimal year in 2021 would honestly involve a lot of what I started focusing more on this year.
In the past, I’ve been very strict on “business time” and “personal time” but as I’ve grown my business to involve more of my passion for painting this year, I find myself wanting to paint outside of my typical business hours. I’d like to see myself be a little bit more flexible and enjoy life a bit more.
I’d like to focus less on a business week and a personal weekend and start focusing on building my ideal work/life balance. As you can probably tell, my business is the focus of almost everything I do – when someone asks me how I’m doing, I usually respond with what is happening in the business. But when things like this pandemic we’re living in happen – that can really put a damper on how I respond to questions like that.
In 2021 I hope to make a more cohesive work week/personal life so that I don’t slip back into the mindset of working for the weekend.
