Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Hoffman.
Lauren, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
After getting a degree in Psychology and having two kids I fell back in love with my passions of home design, architecture, photography and creative arts. I have always wanted to curate a home goods line after working for Kerry Cassill when I was in my early 20’s. My husband comes from a 94-year-old family run textile company, Hoffman California Fabrics. In January 2016 a cousin and I started Hoffman Home and Lifestyle a brand of home decor for interior designers and consumers. We use Hoffman fabrics as our source of textile design for any home. Here I could use my creativity in design and photography. My heart was still tugging to do something more and to give back. I had bought my first African bolga basket from a flea market about 10 years ago and since then I have fallen in love with its style and function and durability over the years. There is something so meaningful to me when an item you can use daily is made by human hands. I just imagine the hands working so diligently to weave each and every layer and I just marvel how durable these baskets really are.
So much is lost in products when there is no love, flaws and one of kind characteristics added as it’s made. My passion is also to give back in any way I can. I appreciate artisans and their hard work to keep the trade they have been passed down for generations and generations. September of 2017 my husband and I planted a seed of empowering these artists. Our efforts would be to fairly trade and provide a collection of home goods that appeal to any well traveled inhabitant by way of modern design. We sourced and found a wonderful African basket supplier, Affordable African baskets. All our baskets are handmade in Ghana using elephant grass, goat hide + natural dyes. Each one in one of a kind and colors and sizing vary according to style. Our baskets are versatile and can be flattened and reshaped while traveling. They are part of my daily trips to the store, beach or any every. I keep one in my car several in my house and give them as gifts. We are so grateful We have just added a wonderful + beautiful new line of handmade frazada’s from Lima, Peru to our collection. Frazada’s can be used as rugs or blankets and are handmade with beautiful weaving skills. They should be arriving any day. We are also excited to be adding Balinese handmade items very soon as well. We will be traveling there shortly. As our collection grows an empowerment for these artisans grows as well. In our efforts to give back we are also donating a percentage of sales to Various human trafficking abolishment projects and donating to Fair Trade Certified, investing in an equitable market system.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
We are still so new and have so much growing to do. We are still just adding water and sunshine to see how our business blooms.
So, let’s switch gears a bit and go into the woven basket story. Tell us more about the business.
Our company supplies handmade home goods. We fairly trade with our suppliers. Right now, we carry African bolga baskets, Peruvian frazada’s, American made pillows and macrame plant holders.
Has luck played a meaningful role in your life and business?
Luck or purpose it’s been a role of both.
Contact Info:
- Website: Thewovenbasketshop.com
- Email: info@thewovenbasketshop.com
- Instagram: @wovenbasketshop
Image Credit:
The Woven Basket
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