Made for More and Co Origin Story

Hello everyone! My name's Michelle and I am the owner of Made for More and Co. Here's the long version of how my business came to be! (If you want the short version, too bad. buckle up. kidding, checkout the about page)

I really believe everything in my life has led me to this place of creating with the desire to encourage others along the way. 

I have always been drawn to art, it was my favorite class as a child, in my teenage years I was especially drawn to interior design and architecture, which led me to study those fields at the U of MN (go gophers!!), and even brought me to study abroad in Denmark for a semester. From moving around as a child, to living in a new culture for a few months I really saw how important the sense of home was. Not just a place, but how you make it your own, how people's places can exude them and invite others in. How it can make you feel calm and at ease, or excited and inspired. No two people's styles, homes, or art for that matter are the exact same. And I love that. 

After college I got a job working as an architectural designer at an architecture firm, it taught me a lot and for that I am so grateful, but I just knew it was not for me. So, working there pushed me into figuring out what I do like doing.I decided Christmas of 2019 that I was going to make my family members gifts, thus came the first batch of my canvas signs (I shriek looking at them now, but ya gotta start somewhere). Well everyone loved them and encouraged me to make something of it, and to me it just felt right. I loved making, creating something for someone that I knew they would enjoy, and I loved that creating art allowed me the space to be freely me. 

My style has changed so much over the years, but seeing all the beauty of Scandinavia has shaped my style the most. I love the authentic, raw, and organic nature of Nordic design. Along with that I love retro 70's vibes (should've been born in that era, I would've rocked out on the disco every weekend) So to sum up my style and how it inspires what I create I love a good mid century modern, Scandinavian, retro mix. 

May of 2020 I launched Made for More and Co on Etsy and there it was, my whole self out for the world to see- or so it felt like it. From that starting point to now I've done several art fairs throughout Minnesota, small local ones, big city ones, up north ones, you get the point. Along with that I've had numerous odd jobs, some design related, some not (I'm in my mid twenties, we're all just in the figuring it out still phase right?) But the one constant has been Made for More and Co. This is my passion project, my dream, and what a lot of times feels like completely and totally me.

I am beyond grateful for this space to create and for the fact that God would use me in this way. Made for More and Co is about inspiring, creating, reminding you that there's more to life than the mundane, and that everything and everyone is truly made for more. My desire has always and will always be that each of you would see the more that you were made for. 

lots of love to you all!

Michelle