Lauren is the maker and designer behind Ochre, a ceramics and jewellery label run from her studio in Mullumbimby, in the Northern Rivers, about fifteen minutes from Byron Bay. Everything Ochre makes, ceramics, jewellery, and more recently ceramic lighting, is designed and made by Lauren herself.
Ochre didn't start out this way. It began as a ceramic jewellery label. As Lauren's relationship with clay deepened, so did the range: ceramic beads first, then homewares, then lighting. The business has grown the way she has, gradually, led by her own evolving skill and interests. Everything she touches carries her eye for shape, colour and texture.
An average day for Lauren doesn't look like one thing. It could be unpacking the kiln, glazing, packing pieces back up. It could be making stock for the online shop or for stockists, in pottery or in jewellery. And if there's a workshop on, it's tidying the studio, picking flowers, setting up the cheese platter, and welcoming people in for a clay, wine and cheese session.
Lauren introduced me to her slab roller, and to the concept of slab-laid pottery. It was my first time seeing this kind of ceramics up close. She found the roller being sold on Facebook Marketplace and knew immediately it was what her process was missing. She uses it to roll out large pieces of speckled clay, lays pattern pieces on top, and cuts them out. She builds from those pattern pieces over moulds, which is how she gets the balance in her mugs, bowls, vases and lamps.
She wears the Charlie Overalls in Slate while she works.
Alongside the making, Lauren teaches. She runs pottery and jewellery-making workshops from the Mullumbimby studio, along with pop-up events around Australia. When I asked her what she loves most about the business she's built, she didn't hesitate.
'Teaching,' she told me. She's a mum to a toddler, and she's honest about the juggle. But teaching, she said, is where it all comes together.
'Even if it's just two hours for somebody, and they got out of their head and came away with something they love, that's enough.'
I asked her, too, how she knows when a piece is finished. It's a question I've been putting to every maker in this series.
'The girls who work with me would laugh at this,' she said, 'because I'm always the one saying, enough, stop faffing, enough.' A lot of her making falls into production, so part of it is simply knowing when a piece is done and it's time to move on. But when she's building a collection, she doesn't overthink it. 'I'm such a gut feeling person. I go with my gut.'
Lauren is also mindful of what Ochre leaves behind. Every sale contributes to tree planting through One Tree Planted. Over 3,000 trees since she started in October 2020.
You can find Lauren's work, and book into one of her workshops, at ochreceramics.com, or follow along on Instagram at @ochre.thelabel.
The Makers is our series on women who make for a living. Real studios, real process, real work.