My Life in Color is a series dedicated to the impact that color has on our lives at a time when studies show that it is disappearing from the world. We realized that we needed to bring these stories to light because many of you said that you were hiding your true self behind what other people thought you should be doing. This is our attempt to share the stories from your hearts from a variety of backgrounds and experiences. You can read more about the genesis of this series here.
Today we are going to hear from Lauren Hillerich, a former corporate professional currently raising her son full time outside of Louisville, KY. As a hobby creative she likes to spend her free time personalizing her family’s new build, painting, and crafting. Lauren loves befriending like minded people. Find her on instagram @lalallaurrenn.
My Life in Color: the origin
As a child I sometimes found it hard to communicate verbally. Instead, I spent countless afternoons with my box of Crayola crayons. I would fanatically organize the entire box (first by color, then by hue), just to immediately dump them out to put them into my favorite color ways. Coloring books were a way to organize and control my little creative world, but color was an opportunity to have no boundaries. I was beginning to see the power of color, and its ability to affect and change the things around me.
My grandfather and father were pressmen, spending their entire adult lives working on, and with printing presses. My grandmother and uncle worked in the bindery of several local printers; where printed materials are cut, paginated, and bound into final products. My mother was in print manufacturing sales. Is the ability to see and use color effectively a genetic trait? I don’t know, but I’ve taken the FM color test a few times and scored very high (the only other person scoring as high was my father.) Both my cousin and I went “into the family business”, working for print manufacturing companies. A coworker used to say “every storm cloud has a PMS 877 lining” and I like to think that it was a clever way to be specific about your industry job, which in some ways is its own craft.
My job was creative adjacent, but seeing design graphics and learning how print ink and coatings have to be applied to achieve what a designer sets out to communicate still scratched a creative itch. But I never wanted to be in print manufacturing. I wanted to create.
Identifying as an artist
Outside of my 3 year old phase of wanting to be a garbage man, I’ve always wanted to be an artist. I was never particularly great at conceptualizing though. Because of this–and probably thinking it was not a worthwhile occupation– I never pushed myself to practice and try to develop what did not come naturally. I always saw myself as creative, but not artistically inclined. As a result, I grew into using color to communicate myself to others. My shyness persisted and in high school I realized color blocking my clothing may let me stand out a little bit without drawing too much attention… like “hey, that girl seems like she would be interesting to be friends with” (I have no idea if this what was communicated, but I would like to think it was.)
Finding community
In the early aughts I found the craft movement online (Helllloooo Craftster and Etsy), which allowed me to explore colors, mediums, and applications in ways I never had before. My first craft love will always be embroidery. It is like adult coloring with a needle. It’s tedious, and it’s calming. I’ve worked in so many different handmade aspects as an adult: embroidery, quilting, sewing, paper cutting, jewelry making, textile arts, wedding design/decor, nursery decor, party decorations, handmade jewelry, needle crafting, leather crafting, and painting.
What I lack in artistic conceptualization, I more than make up for in knowing/figuring out how to use multiple mediums. I’ve spent most of my life avoiding fully defining myself as an artist, but the fact of the matter is, I think I am. I may not have found my one end all, be all medium and I may never be a known artist, but I am creative and there is nothing that I love more than creating something from nothing. And more than half of what I communicate through my designs or home decor is communicated through a strong color palette. My color palette is playful.
Expressing myself through interiors
Never quite sure how or which artistic medium to focus on in our first homes, I leaned hard into color through design. I found that color and busy decor made a space feel more lived in, more special…there was more personality on display. You could walk into our home and get a sense of our spirit.
3 years ago when we moved homes and started a family, I really wanted to use color with intention. I want my home to reflect joy, not only for me, but for our son. I want him to grow up in a space that fosters artistic thought and creativity. Maybe one day he will express himself in those ways, but at the very least he will see life through a different lens. I’m not sure why I crave that feeling, but I do think that it helps motivate me, helps me feel more calm, helps elevate my mood. Dopamine decor? That’s a thing now? I truly believe it has helped my mental health. The color and coordination, the bright feeling….makes me feel happy. Maybe it’s also a sense of pride in seeing a vision come together…seeing an unusual color palette or pattern or texture together and how it all melds into a feeling. I’m not sure….What I am sure about is that color affects my everyday life.
I’m definitely not a writer, I haven’t written anything this long since college. In fact, when Brittany asked me if I wanted to write an essay… I low-key panicked. Sheer fear. I don’t feel that I have ever utilized my ability to create and use color effectively because I never pushed myself to get comfortable with the uncomfortable. My love of color is real, but I never fully harnessed my potential creatively because it seems so….risky? So I decided, yep. Let me write this essay in my voice. Is the grammar correct? Nah… and the punctuation is nottttt great. But this is something I feel passionate about. These are all just recollections of my experience that have an overall consistent theme and that is communication through color.
You can find Lauren:
Thank you Lauren, for sharing your thoughts about color. I know a lot of us are in the same boat!
If you have a story you’d like to share about your relationship with color, please reach out to [email protected]
Comments