Interview with L&m Studio Lucie Piedra & Meg Oliver

We began collaborating in 2011, almost immediately the work took on a personality of it's own & really became l&m studio. Our studio is in a store-front location in historic Catskill, NY. We design and make everything there.

A concept that integrates aesthetic and function. Basically a concept you apply to make an object better than it was previously

Everyday objects that can be transformed into extraordinary objects by a simple twist on their design.

Heather wick's Rolling Bridge in London. Designed to span a canal for pedestrians and roll up to allow boats to pass. They took the function of opening and closing and made it beautiful. It curls up just like a giant caterpillar transforming what could be a very mundane commute into a magical experience.

Clay in all it's wonderful forms.

We feel most creative when we are problem solving.

We usually focus on the ultimate function, how we can change the basic form of a piece to improve its function and aesthetics.

There is a range of emotions ranging from the exhilaration of the 'ah-ha' moment all the way to frustration when it isn't quite working out as one had imagined it.

It is always a joy to hear how much people enjoy using our designs.

Something that truly functions for its intended purpose and adds beauty & interest to its environment.

Is it interesting?

Designers have a responsibility to improve wherever and whenever they can.

Most of our inspiration comes from daily life. We both love to cook, every new dish brings new ideas about how we can improve the basic pots we’ve been using all our lives. We also hike a lot. We get a chance to reboot our brains a bit and often find inspiration in the woods.

We think our design style could be best described as Modern Organic.

We live in upstate New York. It’s very rural here, very peaceful with little distractions.

We wholesale to companies and stores now.

We collaborate on all our designs. One of us usually comes in with an idea. We’ll chat about different ways we could go about making it. Usually one of us misunderstands something the other has said and often a really new aspect to the original idea will evolve. Once we have a semi concrete plan we’ll start working on the model, passing it back and forth until we have a solid piece that we are both happy with. We can then make a plaster mold and start casting it in porcelain.