Growing Designs
Sandra Conte
editor@earth-emag.com
1 February 2014
Translating the Latin for ‘happy place’ into the label name ‘Laeta Loca Designs’ (Laeta Loca is pronounced Lay-ta-low-ka) the intent of designer Meg Geer is clear from the outset. Meg’s lovingly designed and hand-crafted homewares are about contributing to the happy place of others.
Each of Meg’s silk and felt hanging pendant lights along with furnishings created in her island studio has a story behind it. She handpaints her silk pendant light shades so no two are alike; their timber collars, handcrafted by Laeta Loca’s ‘Woodsman Dave’, are made from Tasmanian oak and can be stained or oiled with a timber oil made in Byron Bay Australia from the friendliest ingredients.
Felt pod lights are derived from 100 per cent Merino wool and by employing spiderweb thin felting, the resulting singular or clustered pieces can be coloured and arranged to suit every type of interior. The effect is simply stunning.
Quality control drives Meg’s design ethic, as she outlines, “I am very determined to know where my materials come from in order to maintain an artisan quality to my line. This perhaps makes it more expensive but special. I want people to take home something that is chemical free, made with love and has done as little damage as possible to the environment on its way through. I think if we could make that desire a regular part of the buying psyche, positive change would come faster to industry and the world. I work with natural mostly not dyed fibres to take the shortest route from its natural form to art form. It is straight from the sheep’s back, well as close as I can get without actually having a sheep in my back yard! There is often residual organic matter tangled in the wool that remains present in the vessels with the resulting elegant, simple forms allowing the natural fibre and existing organic materials to be noticed”.
Meg believes that the work she creates is imbued with the energy of the process, explaining, “I find producing these crafts to be nourishing and joyful which I hope transfers with the objects to those who own them.”
Meg is currently working on a large scale sculptural exhibition based on the natural beauty of the Moreton Bay region in south-east Queensland, Australia and says, “ I am researching materials and fibres for the exhibition and always in my mind is the desire to make the spirit of the exhibition carry through all levels of the work. I don’t think it can truly portray the energy and beauty of the region if it does damage to it along the way. It’s all interconnected.”
www.laetaloca.com