I first met Linda earlier this year and we immediately struck up a friendship. She has such positive energy and we quickly discovered we have a lot in common: we both took a leap of faith and changed career paths mid-life to pursue more creative work. Linda's craft? Designer lampshades. Check her out ... love this pic from Linda's website!
Linda began creating designer lamp shades in the fall of 2011 when she left the DC political world cold turkey. "I knew I wanted to do something creative as I come from a family of designers, artists and winemakers. I always had in my homes beautiful, colorful lampshades — NEVER white! I walked into Anthropologie one day, subconsciously headed straight to the lampshades and thought, “I can do that, and I can do that better!” Shortly thereafter, Linda found a mentor and perfected her craft. The rest, as they say, is history.
Linda's work reminds me of other great design icons' work, too. For example, check out these pops of color featuring iconic designer Marimekko's fabrics:
Picture from here
There's also Galbraith and Paul, an artisan brand I've admired for years. Their first lampshades were actually made out of paper. Today, they work with their stunning hand block printed textiles to create shades and pendants like these:
Photo found here
In addition to second careers as creative entrepreneurs, Linda and I share a love of nature. Her home state of sunny Florida inspires her work - shares Linda, everything from its "bright yellow sun, blue skies, green grass, turquoise waters and colorful fresh flowers."
Linda's advice to other women entrepreneurs? Dream big, stay focused on your goal and do something big every day to get there. I couldn't agree more.
Fun fact: Linda and I recently teamed up to create a limited edition series of mini-shades or night lights. How sweet are these, for a little kid's room? p.s. local (Arlington, VA area) friends: you can find a few of these at one of my favorite local boutiques, covet.
Enjoy! xo, Kate
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