Meet Lauren Hart of Culver City

Today we’d like to introduce you to Lauren Hart.

Lauren, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?
I grew up just outside of Detroit and have been drawn to art for as long as I can remember. In high school, my interests centered on art and photography, which led me to attend the College for Creative Studies in Detroit. I initially majored in photography, but eventually shifted to fibers and textile design, a program that perfectly combined my love for art and fashion. My interest in fashion began early; I was around ten years old when my mom taught me how to sew, and I started altering and making my own clothes.

When I graduated from college in 2009, the economy was in the middle of the financial crisis, and I wasn’t entirely sure what my path would be. One piece of advice I would give my younger self, and other young people, is that when you graduate from college, you still may not be completely clear on what you want to do, and that’s okay. Keep going, keep exploring new paths, and you’ll eventually find where you’re meant to be.

A year after graduating, I returned to CCS to work there, as well as earn a certificate in web and graphic design, realizing how essential digital skills had become in the creative world. I also took pattern drafting classes at a local fabric store. With those combined skills, I rebuilt my portfolio with the goal of figuring out a way to pursue my dream and break into fashion world.

In 2015, my then-boyfriend (now husband) landed a job in Los Angeles. I took that as my sign that it was time to go too. A few months later, I moved to LA with a one-way plane ticket, a suitcase, and a laptop (the rest of my belongings arrived a few months later in a pod lol). After applying to hundreds of jobs, I finally landed an assistant technical designer role at BCBG. I learned quickly, was promoted within a year, and went on to work in technical design for over nine years. While the experience taught me a great deal about the fashion industry, I slowly began to realize that it wasn’t what I had imagined. What was once my dream had become my reality, but sometimes you need to experience something firsthand to realize it isn’t quite what you want.

I believe deeply in continual, lifelong personal growth, and for me that often means taking classes or furthering my education. While I was living my fashion dream by day, I felt increasingly drawn toward graphic design. A few years after moving to LA, I began taking classes at OTIS College of Art and Design. I took a couple of in-person classes, and then the pandemic hit, and all classes went remote. Remote learning allowed me to expand my education to other schools that were further away though like ArtCenter and UC San Diego, which was amazing. I thankfully kept my job during that pandemic, though with reduced hours for a period of time, and was working primarily from home. Not having to commute gave me more time to focus on my classes and build a new portfolio of work once again.

Outside of my full-time job, I worked on branding myself, building a website, turning my Instagram into a portfolio, and opened an Etsy shop selling stickers.

In late 2023, I found out I was pregnant with my son. Naturally, my focus shifted to preparing for motherhood. My son arrived a little early the following July, and I took several months off from work to adjust to my new life. People tell you having a baby will change your life, but you don’t truly understand it until it happens. Becoming a mom completely shifted my perspective on everything, work, time, and priorities. I realized I wanted and needed more flexibility with my time more than ever, and had to build a career that supported my life, not the other way around.

I returned to work part-time after my maternity leave, but it was challenging. I no longer had the same focus on work, and with my son in daycare, even just a few days a week, he was sick often, which meant my husband and I were sick often too. Life has a funny way of working itself out, though. Before having my son, I had taken on a few freelance graphic design projects here and there, but after I got back to the grind when my maternity leave ended, my freelance business really began to gain momentum. After about six months back at work, I was exhausted, frequently sick, and ready to take the leap. Around the time my son turned one, I quit my day job and officially started my business.

Today, almost 6 months later, I’m fully self-employed, working with my own clients and collaborating with Angela and her team at Tacos, Tequila, and Tech Design. While I still draw on my background in technical design, my primary focus now is graphic and surface design, creating logos, illustrations, packaging, repeat patterns, and brand identities.

When I began this journey over 20 years ago by following my passions for art and fashion, I never could have imagined where my life would lead. You never truly know where you’ll end up, as long as you keep learning, keep growing, and listen to your intuition.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Smooth? Ha! Not at all. Some of the biggest struggles I’ve faced, and still do, are self-doubt, rejection, and lack of time.

There’s always that voice in your head that tells you you’ll never be able to do this, so you might as well get comfortable and stop trying. Sometimes I wonder what it would feel like to give in to that voice and be okay with settling, but not really. That internal battle never fully goes away, but you do get better at pushing through it the more and more you don’t listen and keep going.

Then there’s rejection. Over and over again. You work up the courage to quiet that voice, put yourself out there, try and try and try, just to be rejected again, and again, and again, and again. I honestly couldn’t count how many rejections I’ve received over the years, whether applying for jobs or pitching freelance clients. I’ve learned to not to take it personally though. If that isn’t the right fit, then maybe the next one will be.

And finally, time, or at least the perception of not having enough of it. I’ve never been in a position where I didn’t have to work, even during college, so I’ve always had to squeeze in classes, personal projects, and skill-building wherever I could. That’s especially true now with a young child. It isn’t easy, but it is possible as long as you stay organized, focused, and intentional with the time you do have.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?
Today, I still do some technical design work, such as technical sketches, but my primary focus is graphic design and brand development. I specialize in repeat pattern design, I love creating patterns!

What really sets me apart is my background. My skill set is a blend of both tactile and digital design. In college, I majored in fibers and textile design, which was part of the crafts department at CCS. In addition to textile work, I studied ceramics, glass, and jewelry design. That hands-on, material-focused education shaped how I approach design.

While I later shifted more heavily into digital work such as vector illustration, logos, t-shirt graphics, and branding, I never lost the attention to detail that comes from working in crafts. I was taught to think about every part of an object, even the areas most people won’t see, like the back of an embroidery or the bottom of a bowl. Maybe no one will ever notice it, but if they do, that extra level of care and details makes a difference. That philosophy carries through all of my work today.

What matters most to you? Why?
What matters most to me is time, time with my son, my husband, and my family. You can always make more money, but no matter how much you earn, you can never buy your time back.

That is why creating a career with flexibility has been so important to me. Am I working at least a little almost every day? Yes. Am I sometimes up until midnight finishing a project? Of course. But even before I took the leap and started my own business, I was always investing in myself by taking classes, learning new skills, and pushing toward what I felt was the next level.

Today, that level looks like running my own freelance business built on my ever-evolving skill set. The next level is a bigger, long-term vision: a design studio and art therapy retreat center that’s fully off-grid. I don’t know if or when I’ll ever get there, but as Rick Doblin said it best, “If your dream can fit into one lifetime, you aren’t dreaming big enough.”

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.laurenh.art
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/laurenh.art
• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/laurenh-art
• Other: https://www.etsy.com/shop/LaurenHartShop

Image Credits
n/a – my husband took the photos lol