Name: Celestine Pueringer
Business Name: Create Laser Arts
Creative/Artistic Categories: Product Design, Jewelry Design, Home Goods, Laser Art
Website: createlaserarts.com
Support the Work: **TCDS SPECIAL** 10% off your purchase at Create Laser Arts with code, TCDS10 Shop Create Laser Arts
Follow on Social Media:
Five Questions with Create Laser Arts:
What is your favorite art venue?
Hair and Nails and The Porch Gallery. Both are run by awesome artists/performers.
What are your favorite art/creation resources?
Currently, it’s Mother Nature…LOL
What local restaurants/take out spots help keep you fed during your creative sessions?
I miss Gandhi Mahal!! (P.S. Gandhi Mahal’s Curry In a Hurry is aiming to open at the end of September 2020)
I love the Himalayan Restaurant on Lake St., All Square is amazing, and this new Japanese restaurant Okome House in my neighborhood is wonderful!
Is there a specific local non-profit organization you’d like listeners to learn about?
Juxtaposition Arts !!!!
Also St. Stephens Outreach !!
There’s also a great GoFundMe happening to create an art space for QBIPOC creatives in Minneapolis.
Please give a shout out to three other local artists/creators you respect and admire:
- Lindsay Rhyner | Instagram: @lindsayrhyner
2. Mohamud Mumin | Instagram: @hundredmp and @soomaalhouse
3. Jamie Owens | Instagram: @jamie_owens_art
Podcast Transcription with Create Laser Arts:
The TCDS podcast transcription is sponsored by
Remarque Consulting.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 0:16
Hello and welcome. My name is Jennie Eukel. And this is Twin Cities Design Scene, a podcast featuring conversations with Minnesota artists and creators about their work, career, and inspiration. Today on the show is Celestine Pueringer of Create Laser Arts. Create Laser Arts is an artist-run studio based in South Minneapolis. They produce their own collection of consciously-crafted home goods and jewelry with the intent of bringing joy to daily life. Combining laser technologies with traditional handcraft, they also facilitate projects for businesses, artists, and makers in the community. Welcome to the show, Celestine!
Celestine Pueringer 0:55
Thank you so much for having me, Jennie. Yeah, I’m excited for you to be here.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 1:00
Tell me about what you do at Create Laser Arts.
Celestine Pueringer 1:04
We really do a lot of different things. We make our own collection of jewelry and home goods; from ornaments to little boxes and the jewelry is probably my favorite. I’m obsessed with earrings. So I’m going to be making a lot more earrings and we also do custom fabrication kind of specializing in laser cutting and engraving. So a lot of logos to things that also help makers and other businesses with their products.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 1:34
So you’re talking about jewelry a little bit there too. So you do a whole series of hoop earrings, but you also dabble in some other types too, right?
Celestine Pueringer 1:42
Yeah, yeah, I definitely need to update the website and get more of the designs up there. We do have a collection of woodcut earrings that are in kind of different shapes, different geometric shapes, and all of our earrings are made out of either wood or acrylic. Um, so I’m playing around with some new things that are kind of combining the two and also one of my favorite materials is the acrylic mirror. So I’m gonna make some fun pieces with the mirror
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 2:18
That’s like that hand mirror, right?
Celestine Pueringer 2:20
Yes. Yeah.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 2:21
Where it’s like the shape of a hand.
Celestine Pueringer 2:23
Yeah, yeah. So fun to play with.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 2:26
So the name of your company is Crate Laser Arts, everything that you do, is it all laser related or like etching, laser cutting for the most part?
Celestine Pueringer 2:37
Yes, we’ll probably be branching out a little bit more just some things that don’t have any use of the laser. Just because Mark, my business partner, and I are both artists and work with all different kinds of mediums. And since the mass production has been a thing, I’ve been doing a ton of sewing and I’ve always loved fashion so I’m probably going to delve into playing with some more accessories and some other things. And of course, I’ve got to try to get the laser involved in every step that I can. So for the masks, we are laser cutting the fabric pieces, and then I sew them off by hand. So if I can make like capes that have laser cut out detail on the end, or you know some some way to incorporate it, I’m I’m super excited about playing with all kinds of things.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 3:31
That would be so cute….The cape idea? I’m just thinking like both kids and adults …I can see getting it.
Celestine Pueringer 3:40
Crowns are another thing that I keep. Like, I’ll make one and then it just kind of gets pushed off to the side. And so leather crowns for kids and for adults is something I need to like really get moving on. Fun things… I just I really like playing in the world of materials. I want to encourage others to play too.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 4:05
That’s what I’ve noticed with a lot of your products too, is that there’s this element of whimsy to a lot of them like whether it’s in the color or the materials, or the styling that you do. I come back to the earrings, like some of the colors that you have in there you have a whole range of colors.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 4:26
Well, it’s like, you know, you have some elements of like neon in there too, or sparkles and you just don’t see that quite as much. I like color myself. So I’m like, Yeah, I get that hot pink.
Celestine Pueringer 4:39
The hot pink is so good.
Celestine Pueringer 4:45
As I’m talking, I’m wearing like a brown shirt and black sweater. But I have a neutral base. Yeah, nobody can see me soI’m usually very like a very loud mixture of patterns and prints and colors.
Celestine Pueringer 5:02
You know, especially in the wintertime I think color really helps us in so many ways. Yeah, I’m definitely not shocked to the neons. And I think it’s a good way to like have just like a little bit of fun and the outfit totally you can be wearing my like pleated business suit and then throw on a little pair of neon pink earrings
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 5:24
And then add the crown for a finishing touch.
Celestine Pueringer 5:27
Yes! Them put a crown on when you’re going for your cocktail.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 5:34
So let’s talk about as far as how you created Create Laser Arts. What events brought you to be like, I’m gonna do laser products. You said earlier, you do a lot of different arts. So I mean, tell me about that journey.
Celestine Pueringer 5:49
Well, I so I guess it really started in my undergrad. I went to school at the U of M in the Twin Cities here and majored in sculpture and I worked in the woodshop and the metal shop during school, so I was really involved in the facilities and different mediums. And then one of a few of the teachers got a grant together to get a laser for the art department. And it had been it came some time in my undergrad and I wasn’t really like, introduced to it until towards the end of my my schooling. And that introduction kind of ties into like, a very deep personal health journey. I ended up with metal toxicity that really interfered with like all of my basic body functions. So it It caused a lot of issues and it took me a while to figure it out.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 6:52
So glad you did.
Celestine Pueringer 6:54
Yeah, yeah, it was wild time
Celestine Pueringer 6:59
And one of the things that came out of it was the need for me to work on a much smaller scale like and a much less physically demanding scale because I was highly involved in like carving wood, doing metal pours doing woodblock prints, like things that take a lot of like physicality. And I just, I literally, physically couldn’t do it anymore because of these health issues. So I was looking for other ways, you know, like if I can’t cut this out on the bandsaw, what are my options and that’s when I was introduced to the laser. Because it could, you know, you can cut parts, you can cut components, you can carve out block prints, and then go print them. It had elements to connect me back with like all of these different processes that I really loved and it was a way to be able to continue to evolve that without hurting myself physically. That’s kind of how I met the laser was instead of doing all these large scale. super labor intensive things, I started to transition to very small scale. And you know, if you’re working on something that fits in your hand it’s gonna be a lot less physically demanding than something that is a you know, 2000 pound mold.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 8:27
Yeah, you’re not hauling the heavy stuff as much as you are like, taking all your products in bulk. So yeah.
Celestine Pueringer 8:33
And since I’ve always been kind of obsessed with fashion stuff, I was making jewelry before using the lasers. So it only made sense to start experimenting with you know how to make jewelry, earrings, chokers, necklaces, you know, whatever, different components. I made some shirts back then and just all kinds of weird stuff. So I started really enjoying the possibilities with that machine, but we didn’t have any laser techs there. It was kind of a quiet empty room because nobody knew how to use the machine I didn’t even know how to use them. It was like a newer technology back then.
Celestine Pueringer 9:11
Yeah, well, the it’s kind of an interesting timeline. These kinds of machines have been around for decades and decades but they’ve been primarily in the industrial and like mass manufacturing sphere if you will.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 9:28
Well, that’s what I was wondering is just as far as like with because I’ve noticed as far as in more recent years more artists taking up like an interest in laser arts, but I don’t remember that as much like 10-15 years ago.
Celestine Pueringer 9:46
It started to like creep into the maker communities. And you know, that will often happen where artists will find a tool that had a completely different purpose and use it for something else.
Celestine Pueringer 10:00
In the foundry, I would take the silicone caulking that’s used to seal your sinks and tubs and use that to make molds because I couldn’t afford those super expensive fancy silicone. So whenever I’d go to a hardware store, they’d be like, what are you doing?
Celestine Pueringer 10:17
Don’t worry about it! I need like, eigth tubes of the clear silicone. I’m good to go.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 10:26
Whatever. Okay, yeah.
Celestine Pueringer 10:28
So then when I graduated, I could no longer work in the woodshop in the art department. And I had a really good relationship with my boss there, Mark Knierim. And he asked if I wanted to help develop the laser tech program there. So myself and another graduate, we became the first laser techs and taught ourselves how to use these machines and then started having appointments with students and grad students and faculty.
Celestine Pueringer 11:00
To members, and you know, visiting artists and all kinds of people who were in the art department community there to facilitate their projects. So it was a lot of fun. It just kind of like, grew and grew and grew. And you got to work with all different kinds of artists to do all different kinds of projects with just the most random materials. We did everything from engrave, like beef jerky, to super large scale plaques to, like, you know, you get a bunch of artists together and you have no idea like what the challenge is going to be. So it was a lot of fun. It was a lot of fun. And I worked there for probably two and a half years. And that program is it’s evolved in amazing ways. Other amazing artists have taken it over and taken it to new levels and it’s it’s pretty cool. What comes out of there.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 11:50
You’ve been doing this you said for 15 plus years.
Celestine Pueringer 11:52
No, not quite. Not quite. I have the businesses over eight years old. And I’ve been working with lasers for 11 or 12 years. That’s close. Yeah.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 12:07
Yeah, give or take a year. But yeah, that’s, that’s amazing.
Celestine Pueringer 12:12
When I was working there, I kept having, like, former grad students try to sneak in to work on projects and you know, other artists and makers in the community who just knew I was there doing stuff try to sneak in and do projects. And unfortunately, you can’t have that at, you know, a massive University.
Celestine Pueringer 12:35
So, aside from the fact that there were always people trying to use it, who, you know, couldn’t have access. I also had like, a million ideas for things that I wanted to make. And, you know, I was doing pop ups I was doing like the Red Hot Art Festival of various you know, pop ups and art festivals around town and I was selling some stuff, so I thought there might be potential there too.
Celestine Pueringer 13:00
To to, you know, kind of do a combination of you know, custom work for people and retail of whatever things we want to make that hopefully somebody wants to buy.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 13:12
Well, you you currently, I mean, in non COVID times, of course, like you have a presence had quite a bit of fairs, especially around like holidays, State Fair, and whatnot. So I mean, you’ve definitely grown that over the years as well.
Celestine Pueringer 13:27
Yeah. Yeah, my, my market presence got kind of out of control. I was doing markets every weekend year-round for quite a few years. Farmers markets to holiday markets to the State Fair. And I had to kind of scale that back a little bit, just to spend more time in the studio and try to work on like growing the business as well. So we shifted shifted the focus to doing like a few summer markets, the State Fair and then the holiday pop ups. And that was wonderful. It’s so fun to be able to, you know, see people’s reaction and see what they like and what they get excited about. And yeah, to be able to like it. That is the best.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 13:46
As I was saying with your products, like they do have that element of like really, like colorful, light hearted, whimsical and even like some of the textural stuff with the wood that you use as well like it’s just, they’re really beautiful materials. And I’m sure that that stands out quite a bit at the at the market fairs. Walk me through in terms of how you create these pieces. Like how do you take it from the million ideas that you have running through your head to actually putting it together and producing your products?
Celestine Pueringer 14:44
Um, I would say most things start with a sketch. I need to get one of those fancy pens so I can actually like sketch on my iPad or something
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 14:56
I thought you were going to say you needed Gelly Roll or something like that.
Celestine Pueringer 15:00
Yes! I love Gelly Rolls! I have sparkly ones in my desk at home.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 15:08
There’s so fun. They never get old. But yeah, as far as having one of the ones where you can transfer it to. I forget what they’re called, but essentially the tablet.
Celestine Pueringer 15:20
So I tend to just like take a scrap piece of paper and like sketch things out. And then I’ll go on to the computer, most likely in Adobe Illustrator and start building on there as well. And sometimes I go back and forth between drawing building on the computer, I’ll print that out. I’ll draw on that because there’s times depending on what I’m doing, where like, I want a more organic hand element in there, not so much with the hoop earrings, I want those to be a perfect precise circle. So there’s some things I do just on the computer and some things I do by hand and then you know, work with a software to achieve my goal.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 16:03
Give me an example of some of the products that you have that you do it more by hand, initially,
Celestine Pueringer 16:10
Well, the hand mirror would be one that’s a hand I just drew, and then scanned it in and live traced in illustrator. And then there’s like ways to play with that shape on the software to that, like if I want to scale up one side of it or something like that. It’s way easier to just do that in the software than to try to like redraw it 50 times to get it perfect. So the hand mirror would probably be the easiest one. And I can send you a photo of that since I don’t on the website.
Celestine Pueringer 16:43
Yeah, it might be on your website or might be on Instagram. I think there’s one either way. If it’s not, I’ll get a photo. Because I think everyone needs to see this hand mirror. It’s fabulous.
Celestine Pueringer 17:01
The hand hand mirror is just something that tickles me.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 17:06
It’s perfect for the person who loves pun and fashion. Yeah. And quirkiness. I love it.
Celestine Pueringer 17:12
Yeah, it’s also like really hard to find a hand mirror that size. A lot of yes come out of a combination of like, Mark and I thinking something’s funny and hoping that others will enjoy that experience. And also some utilitarian need to so like the spatulas would be another product where I do think I sketched out some options as I was kind of playing around with ergonomics and like, you know, what, what would I want to use in my kitchen and knowing that I’m a more petite person like what would also be useful to my dad who’s like six foot two, you know.
Celestine Pueringer 18:05
So for something like that, that is a very utilitarian product will will usually like, we’ll sketch it out, whether it’s by hand or on the computer, and then we’ll cut some out, finish making them and test them and use them, tweak them, see what we want to change what needs to be done differently and then like, kind of work through a few prototypes before solidifying our design.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 18:31
What are your favorite materials to work with? Because you have a range of ones that you work with.
Celestine Pueringer 18:37
Oh, I just love materials in general, definitely wood. I have always loved woodworking, and that’s one of one of the beautiful blessings about Mark. He has been doing woodworking and other types of creation for decades. So he’s just an amazing wealth of knowledge and resources.
Celestine Pueringer 19:00
If I get hung up on something, I can usually call him and be like, “Hey, what would you do for this?” And he’s like, “Boop! I have an answer.” But then with wood, he’s a magnet for wood. I’ll call him up and say, “Hey, you don’t have any cedar lying around, do you?” And he’s like, “Sure, what do you need?”
Celestine Pueringer 19:16
And he’s really taught me everything I know about wood and just appreciating, you know, how this how this material comes to be and all the work that it takes to get it from, you know, a seed to a tree to a flat board that you can then carve or cut something out of and what is amazing, I could I could talk for hours about what it is.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 19:43
Don’t go down the rabbit hole quite yet. Yeah, I mean, the sort of products that you make out of it too. I mean, you have bowls, you have ornaments, like you’re able to use it in so many different ways. And it’s really amazing to see that too as far as the different products that you end up producing with it.
Celestine Pueringer 20:02
And it’s a great great fit with the laser to it burns beautifully you can cut through it there’s there’s so many so many things to do with that. I also love leather. I really love leather and I definitely need to do more leather work.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 20:17
Yeah, I’ve seen a few we mentioned the crown you have bolo ties too that are leather, correct?
Celestine Pueringer 20:23
Those are actually acrylic and wood.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 20:25
Oh, they are okay. I’m remembering incorrectly.
Celestine Pueringer 20:29
Yes! The bolos! We to make more bolos too. Yeah. I love the acrylics. I like colors. Like you said the colors are just so fun. And world of laser materials is continuing to evolve. And there’s all kinds of new things coming like these unicorn mirror-like iridescent mirror acrylics or something that wasn’t available years ago, as well as all these like glitter acrylics. And there’s just infinite possibilities there. Of course fabric, I love cutting fabric, whether I get to do anything with it, or whether it’s for a client, and I don’t know why it makes me so happy.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 21:14
It’s probably because, you know, with your background, you know, you said you’re such a big fashion geek and you just love it. Let’s talk about as far as what your favorite part of creation process is because with your business, you know, you start out with something with an idea. But in your particular business, you know, you’re working with machinery, and it’s, it sounds like it’s pretty complex too. And there’s computers and software that’s involved as well. So I mean, when you go through from your idea to actually kind of getting “dirty” with the computer…not like that…but you know. And then to the laser machine, you know, is there a particular part that gets you excited?
Celestine Pueringer 22:04
Ah, I have a few answers.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 22:08
Yeah, go for it.
Celestine Pueringer 22:10
Honestly, my favorite part is like the the visioning, the the fantasy, the imagining. I have notebooks and notebooks of like, possible things I could make some day that would be fun, you know, to have in the world. So I think my favorite part is just imagining the things not to discount actually like getting those things into a tangible form. That is a wonderful feeling once it finally exists you know, that’s that’s a pretty, pretty fun part of it on a very micro scale.
Celestine Pueringer 22:47
I love applying the oil finish to the wood. It’s like the magic moment where all the all the beauty If the wood is revealed when that oil gets on there, all the figure comes out all the patterns in the wood, all the different color tones are just like vibrant. And I don’t know, it’s it’s just a very gratifying part of the process. It’s like, ah, the wood is singing now like it’s, it’s, it’s showing you all of its glory.
Jennie Eukel 23:23
Well, it just it adds that element of richness to to the the tones that as you mentioned, Like you get to see the beauty of the organic material come out. Yeah, you get to see the full spectrum of the colors and the wood.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 23:36
What is the best piece of advice that you’ve received about running a business like yours this year in particular?
Celestine Pueringer 23:45
I was trying to think about like what I would have answered last year compared to this year.
Jennie Eukel 23:53
It’s it’s a big, big difference for you and so many other creatives, you know.
Celestine Pueringer 23:59
This year has really been wildly challenging. So I would say my answer for this year is that my productivity does not define my self worth. And that can be a very challenging thing. When you’re running a business, you know, like, I do think I do a good job, I definitely have a lot of things I need to work on. But depending on how much I get done in a day, that doesn’t, that doesn’t equate to my value as a person. And that’s been a big, long learning lesson for me in just how I run my business and also how I treat myself as I run the business.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 24:38
It has been a big lesson. That’s a really, really good point to bring up because I’ve heard that from various people on Twitter, especially people that I follow that, you know, there is a tendency to want to keep going, going, going, and when you know something that is out of our control kind of puts that on a pause.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 25:00
You know, you have to kind of reckon with, like, how do you how do you approach that within yourself? Like, how does that make you feel? And how do you work around that? And what do you do?
Celestine Pueringer 25:14
Yeah, yeah. And when running a business like, especially if it’s a super micro business or solopreneur situation, like, you are wearing all of the hats, so there’s a lot of work that doesn’t necessarily generate income, but it’s absolutely necessary.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 25:39
I think I think that’s a really that’s really, really good point. And, you know, that ties into mental health too. I think. I would say most everyone is struggling with something, at this point, you know, and working through that. But, yeah, being able to just kind of acknowledge that and accept it and kind of work through it, I think is really, really important, timely for right now. But also, especially just keeping that sort of sentiment going.
Celestine Pueringer 26:10
For long term. Yeah. Long term sustainability, both for yourself and for the business.
Celestine Pueringer 26:19
Another one that’s always come up, I guess, through running the business is you won’t know until you ask, or you won’t know until you try. So again, ties into like, the limitations you assume or put on yourself. You never know if someone’s gonna say yes, you don’t know if they’re gonna turn you down. Or if the bids too high, or you know, if a request is out of reach until you actually try and ask. And it’s amazing what comes from that.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 26:50
Have you had to work through that yourself over the years as far as like getting over that sort of hurdle to be like make the ask, make the request?
Celestine Pueringer 27:00
Absolutely, yeah. Yeah. I mean, there’s there’s so many times where I just assume it wouldn’t be an option. And I was wrong. There’s totally an option. It totally worked. Or, you know, like, that price wasn’t too high.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 27:18
What advice would you give to other folks who are looking to make a career out of their own creativity?
Celestine Pueringer 27:25
Um, balance out your needs, like really take a look at your needs and balance them out. If you need it, you know, a substantial income because you have kids and you know, college debt or whatever, make sure that you can take care of those needs or that you can still cover your needs with living super frugally.
Celestine Pueringer 27:47
A lot of people don’t talk about how many years it takes to start turning a profit or if they borrow money, if they’re including their own income and salary in that, to make sure that they can actually survive and pay their bills and stuff to grow the business.
Celestine Pueringer 28:11
So I think I think being really like real and honest with yourself on how much you’re like willing to sacrifice as far as, like, financial needs, really, um, depending on what your industry is, there’s, there’s some people who, you know, have creative fields that have super high incomes right away. It really just depends on the business. So, I would say as long as you’re being tentative and careful to make sure that your needs are actually covered, absolutely go for it. And if you need to have a part time job to grow the business so that you can, you know, keep growing that dream and pursuing those goals. That’s just fine. I had three jobs for the first few years of this business, in addition to the business.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 29:02
Yeah, that is really smart to address that. Because I feel like people don’t talk about the financial element as much as far as financial in the creative field.
Celestine Pueringer 29:15
Yeah, yeah. I mean, you have, you have to be willing to sacrifice a lot of like, regular luxuries if you’re privileged to have them in the first place. You know.
Celestine Pueringer 29:28
And I don’t think a lot of people talk about that. I do get very excited about like, you know, pursuing your dream and doing what you want with your time and I’m super, I’m a super big advocate of you know, you, you only live once, so why not try it? And that goes back to that that advice that I got is you don’t know until you try so why not? Why not try it. And just make sure that you can take care of yourself and like feed yourself and all that. All those basic needs through the process and, you know, if I’ve, when I started the business, I was living in a house with like 11 other people, so my rent was super cheap. And that was one of the ways I was able to, you know, get things going and just a lot of a lot of choices to make in the process. And you get to choose what you do with your time. So if you want to pursue a career with the creative passion, it sounds like a good lineup to me. And I think people should try it and just make sure that they are, you know, their basic needs are covered.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 30:38
Yeah, give it your best shot. And, you know, I think that’s part of it, too. As far as like, you don’t hear that sort of transparency. A lot of times you just hear the story of like, this is where I am right now. And you don’t hear as much about the earlier years of working three jobs, you know, living in a house with 10 other people. I mean, there are things that you have to do to get to where you’re at. And everybody comes from different backgrounds as well. And that’s something to hold as well when you’re considering that sort of move.
Celestine Pueringer 31:14
And also like I don’t know how much this stigma is still prevalent, but like, we we didn’t start the business with any like major investors or big loans or anything like that we really started in like the true starving artists fashion like building it up with what we had from the ground and you know, that that certainly takes a different path and can be a much longer path to having investors and you know, doing things that way. But yeah, there’s there’s no right way to start a business and there’s just what’s right for you and what works for you. And yeah, you only live once might as well have some fun with it.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 31:57
#YOLO
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 32:00
So you were talking to me earlier about that you have a lot of different artistic abilities and interests. And just with our final question, what do you like doing in your extra time when you’re not busy with the shop?
Celestine Pueringer 32:19
I do spend a ton of time at the studio, but I also love that time. So sometimes it’s play time in the shop. But I really, I really love gardening. gardening is probably my go-to especially given the season we’re in. It’s a peak harvest time for all my greens and my tomatoes and all the flowers have been amazing this year. gardening is huge. I have a kind of obsessive indoor garden as well.
Celestine Pueringer 32:50
Yes, I’m a big plant lady. It’s it’s one of my therapies as well. I find it super healing and grounding. And that’s definitely an important thing for me to focus on outside of work.
Celestine Pueringer 33:06
I love working on house projects too. That’s kind of a new passion. My partner and I just bought our first house and October it’s it’s been really fun and challenging and new ways. I learned how to make my first glass block cube windows this past weekend and we’re replacing our basement windows. We got half of them done last weekend, half this weekend coming up and you know, it’s it’s fun to think of that as just like a giant weird sculpture project too.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 33:42
It kind of is. I mean, I haven’t done it myself. But yeah, you’re way more crafty when it comes to that. I’m like, I would not even think to be like, “how do I create a glass block from scratch?”
Celestine Pueringer 33:54
I was looking at him and I was like, Can we can just do this? This is the same silicone caulking I was using to make molds in the foundry. I’ve used this stuff before in different ways.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 34:06
You go back to the hardware store and they’re like, “Oh no, it’s this lady again.”
Celestine Pueringer 34:13
I’m using it for normal process this time though.
Celestine Pueringer 34:20
I also really love making music with my partner. So that would be another thing too.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 34:25
What sort of music do you make?
Celestine Pueringer 34:27
We do kind of like ritual ambient noise stuff.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 34:35
Sounds soothing.
Celestine Pueringer 34:36
Yeah, yeah. We do. We have a lot of like singing bowls and gongs and bows and some really like unique instruments that have like therapeutic frequencies. And so we do a lot of like meditative sets and kind of ceremony sense when we perform and then sometimes things get a little like darker and we go a little noisier. A little bit more experimental
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 35:10
Depending on what’s going on in the world the moment I’m sure.
Celestine Pueringer 35:12
Exactly. Yeah, depending on what season we’re in and yeah, what we feel? What energies are like resonating through the neighborhood or Yeah.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 35:30
Thank you so much for your time today. I so appreciate it and then if people want to find your work, where can they find it right now?
Celestine Pueringer 35:38
I’m at our website www.createlaserarts.com shout out to Jennie Eukel for helping us get that pulled together!
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 35:47
Again, a little plug.
Celestine Pueringer 35:50
If you need anybody to do your website, hit her up!
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 35:55
I did. Yes, I did help. Full transparency. I did help Create Laser Arts last fall into spring put together a website. I’m glad it’s been working well for you.
Celestine Pueringer 36:08
It’s been amazing. It’s been amazing and yeah, otherwise you can send us a message or an email to come by the shop. We’re located in the Seward neighborhood off of Snelling and 22nd. Just a block south of Minnehaha and Franklin. You can find our stuff at a lot of shops around town. That list is on the website as well. I’ll be adding links to the the Twin Cities Design Scene blog audio page that I put this up on as well so you can find it there.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 36:38
Thank you so much.
Celestine Pueringer 36:40
Thank you so much, Jennie. It was so nice to chat with you and see your face!
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 36:46
Same here and I hope to be able to chat with you again soon.
Celestine Pueringer 36:49
Yes, please!
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 36:51
You can view the work of Create Laser Arts at createlaserarts.com. You may also find Create Laser Arts’s work on Instagram and Facebook.
Jennie Eukel (TCDS) 37:00
Thanks for listening to today’s podcast. The podcast music is ‘Your Future is My Future’ by Gigamesh. Don’t forget to subscribe and leave a review of the podcast. We’re on many major streaming services such as Spotify, Apple Music, Stitcher, and Google podcasts. For the latest updates you can follow along on Instagram and Facebook at TwinCitiesDesignScene. You can also follow along on twitter at @TCdesignscene. Till next time!