Untitled 27

In her Keshi Penrlwofksbop — based on DMiif, her necklacc thar won Best in Show in the 200? Bcłd Dreams coropetition — I aura McCitbe *bosvs student* how io ititch 3 betel around 3 center pcafl 3mi embcllwh it with pecals. Kccping teosion in het pryotc stitch geiy the strand o i &cvd hc.ids to curl. and voili, »he'k tnade 4 starfJowcfc Next. the demonstrates a berry-clustcr tringe. "You car. add ro your hranch, fo>t to make it moce dirfrcult for yoorself,? shr v»ys .11 student* gather around her. “String up 4 btinch morę il you’rc (rrliiig craay. Thcrc are no rules. You can be tot.illy frer."

In this workłhop, Laura wcar* a Dcco-inllurnced necklace, a ropę of green with burgundy h.oids and a dimcnsioiui flower. Evcryotic want* it. So many student* exclaim over the piece riut Laura dccidcs on tiie *pot to make a kit for it. One student sugge.łts the name it Dragon Rwgs, which Laura rcvxsc* to Oragorulaw.

The name appeals to het She loves Art Nouv«u and surrcalitric Ut form* tltat arc da tk. haunriog, -and organie.

Bot Laura doesn‘t design cxdusi*x-iy to her own ae.stli.ctu: ta«e. She rarely wears her Own piccet cxccpt wbciir she trach es.

~łf you i ust design for youtscif, you get stuck. 1 tłiink of my work as sculpture. Ir's liberaring. You san go wild. Fil to the body i* impoitant. hut if you tłnnfc of it as sculpture you cań push the envcłope," she sass. “I was trainod iu cosnune. 1 alway* madę Stuff for othrr pcopte. When I design,

I think abour my student* and what kind of aesthetic (tiey like.Thłts the determintng faetor.”

Of anthropology and curiosities

Laura. 34, grew up in Stotr.s. Omn., in the U.S., the ofder of two daoghtcrs bom toaeademic ]utcnts. śhc starred sewing 31 agt 6. The sktll came ol it* own volitioti, she eays. Her great. grcaf grandmother was a Hollywood drcsstmker. and her lather claims th.it Liura Ux>kx and actt like Her.

Laura eonnnued toctpress ber arastic stsfe eeen while pursuing dcgfces from the Unwctsity <>f Connecticut,

Storrs, first in historical custume re.storacton and Ulcr in amhcopology and archaeology.

In l»ght of her acadenuc accomplish-tnents, it's ironie th.it lotura eams her iiselihood from her self-taught hc.id arr. I Iowę v et, much of her inspirarion Contr* from her smdy of hutotical costume, particularly of tltc Victor»an era. a period that featured finely detaikd beadwork. She rem.iins fasckiated by the archaeology of bradwork.

“Bcads datę back morc than 40,030 yc.irs and are a uniqucly human phenocnenoo. not fooBd amongst othci pnm.itcs 01 cven earlier human species,” she writes in her artist’* Marcinem. “Bradwork has tepresenred an uninter-rupeed rraslitiou thtoughout time in yiitually ntrj culture on liarth.*

Mayhe rhac’s why Laura’s deaigna arc laccd with tlić inacabre, the birarre, and the turrea! — element* that b.ire derp toois in primitiye art. "I bke to :ry to iuxtapose tlw claborate beauiy of