Welcome to Living Well — our bi-weekly spotlight on different women that we admire and find fascinating. Our goal is to share an intimate peek into these women’s lives by asking them the questions that allow them to open up about their imperfect truth, whatever that may be. 

I met artist Sarah Lesher last year when Open Studios of Topanga was approaching and we were going to be hosting an artist in the annual canyon touring of artists. I loved Sarah's beautiful, peaceful, intentional art and was excited to host her on the artist tour.  

Throughout the year all of us at WLW have continued to get to know and work with Sarah. She's made a custom Sarah Lesher x WLW art print inspired by our circle room for our shop and then a giant beautiful piece to live in the workshop area of the space. She's creative and thoughtful and so I was excited for Sarah to do our Living Well interview and see how her minimalist approach to art and creativity expresses itself in the other parts of her life.

xx, Jaimi

If you've done the Values Deck exercise, what are your top five values? Tell us how one of them manifests in your life. What is a decision you’ve made using it to guide you?

Beauty, connection, authenticity, kindness, and humor. Beauty manifests in my life through my work as an artist and designer. It's recently guided me to make the decision to focus on serving interior designers in my branding studio, while also exploring the possibility of designing spaces as well. I love that experiencing beautiful spaces can have such a profound impact on well-being.

What does a life well-lived look like?

Calm, healthy, doing what lights me up, sharing meaningful connections with people. Laughing every day and not taking things too seriously. Sleeping 9 hours. Being in nature. Spending time alone and quietly enjoying myself, working with my hands. Simplicity.

My version of success is…

Having good health, doing creative work, and being surrounded by beauty, nature, and people I love.

In what way are you seeking to grow right now?

Showing up more consistently when in comes to taking care of my health. Unique Hammond (The Bean Protocol) embodies this so well.

What is one way that you are different today than you were ten years ago?

I definitely care way less about other people's approval.

Setting aside modesty for a moment, what are you excellent at?

Art and design.

Whose life perspective and way of moving through the world teaches you something about who + how you want to be?

Currently I'm really inspired by Louisa Grey, the founder of House of Grey London. I admire her commitment to designing beautiful, calm spaces that are healthy for the people who experience them, and have minimal impact on the planet.

IS THERE A QUOTE OR MANTRA YOU ALWAYS COME BACK TO?

"I am calm, I am present, I am beautiful" — I often say this to myself before entering into a meeting or a space.

Can you share a book, podcast, or article that changed you in some way?

Silent Spring by Rachel Carson. My mom gave me this book when I was young and it had a profound impact on me. Thanks, mom!

What are you grateful for today?

I had two wonderful coffee chats with other creative women this morning. It totally made my day.

Sarah is an artist and designer. Her work explores connections between beauty, sustainable materials and well-being, and spans across multiple mediums including painting, printmaking, object design, sculpture, and branding. This year Sarah would really like to make new sculptural objects in ceramic and stone, and collaborate with more interior designers. She'd love to design a whole space for the right client who likes her aesthetic and shares a similar design philosophy. Connect with her on Instagram.