Designers Sewing

Welcome to my Workroom: Missy Luukkonen

March 11, 2019 by Susan Hurley No Comments

The message from MISSY LUUKKONEN is enjoy life and creativity. The mood of her studio is happiness and vitality. Her colour choices are vivid and uplifting. Come step over her threshold and soak up her sense of positivity. By Susan Hurley

“It’s bright and happy! I am all about rainbows and sunshine.”

This is the work area of Missy Luukkonen, of The Little Green Bean. And while she may nominate just ‘green’ as the preferred colour in her business name, her studio space stretches the spectrum well beyond and lets rip with tonal rioting. It’s an exuberant area that shouts colour and movement and activity of the crafting kind. And it’s all very appealing and welcoming.’

From this room, Missy creates a variety of handmade home-decor items – mainly in fabric and wood. She’s the maker of wooden signs with uplifting messages and quotes as well as being a fabric and timber cartographer of sorts, crafting unique maps, along with her handmade birds and gnomes.

“My objective is to create beautiful, one-of-a-kind craft items that will be cherished for years to come,” says Missy. “If I can put a smile on someone’s face through my art, then I believe what I’m doing is worthwhile.”

Create the Happy Scrappy Circles Quilt by Chris Jurd!

And all of this happens from her home studio idyllically located on one hectare (2.5 acres) in Minnesota, USA – far enough away from the city bustle to inspire creativity but only minutes away from the urban buzz when it’s called for – or when craft supplies are running low. The studio itself is generous enough (8 x 4 metres/26 x 14 feet) to accommodate plenty of storage and ensure smooth daily operation of her business.

“Storage is very important, and I am constantly improving and adding to it as needed. I have lots of space for cabinets and cubbies that hold all my supplies. I try to keep as much as I can in clear bins so that things are visible, and all of my fabric is on mini bolts that I created to keep them neat and organised,” says Missy. “The one piece I get asked about all the time is my island. My husband built it for me, and we had the countertop cushion made.”

Missy anticipates that the studio space should be more than adequate for her growing business in the foreseeable future but that, ultimately, if she continues to go from success to success, things will have to be rethought. And just as she keeps her studio space well organised, so does she keep across future plans: “Right now, I am very content with the look and size of my space. The area is perfect for my needs, but as the business expands, so does the need for space. We already plan to expand at some point to have a larger building for work.”

Go retro with Megan Normoyle’s On the Road Again Caravan Quilt

All this has happened in a relatively short timeframe. Missy may have been stitching for years, but she only took on the business full-time two years ago. In those few short months, she has changed a hobby into a successful company, with three part-time employees helping to meet the demand for her work. And as a consequence, she has a message she’d like to pass on to others with craft-business aspirations.

“It all began as a hobby for fun and steadily grew from there,” says Missy. “I have always been a creative person and never planned for this to be my job, but after steady growth over a few years [while it was still a hobby], I began to wonder if I could make enough money to support my family. Every holiday season, I’d be busier and busier and wonder how I’d make it through while working full-time. In the summer of 2016, I decided it was time to make a choice. Do I stay at the steady job with benefits and a pay cheque or do I take the chance and leap? I took the chance and truly have never looked back. I believe that I’m right where I am meant to be and am happy to say that I made the right choice. It’s a ton of work, but worth every minute of it. I wouldn’t change a thing. I want to encourage others to never give up on their dream.”