Meet John McDavid Lehman | Creative Director/Owner

We had the good fortune of connecting with John McDavid Lehman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi John McDavid, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
If I am being 100% honest my process has never been “business” focused for it all began with a need and the idea that if I personally need “this” there must be a few other folks that are in need as well…and for the last ten years I have asked myself the same question before I jump into a new collection, “what do I need and what does the McMarden community need?” That is the core of our business model and has always been my starting point.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
I’m not sure this is true of all creatives but somehow I have a beautifully functional “reset button” that helps me remain creative and inspired daily. I don’t care how crappy a day I can have or how low I can feel, somehow I always wake up refreshed and ready to get at it again in the morning. In fact I just discovered this about myself over the “lost COVID years”, during these large chunks of “holding patterns” where I was trying to create and complete ideas and simply could not due to logistics and reality, I found myself getting super frustrated yet waking up in the AM with a new game plan and jazzed for the day.

With this new information I find myself more focused on the process and the idea of creating to create and less centered on creating as the tangible business model. I find peace in the fact that I feed my art because I love it, sure I want the community to embrace and love what I do…on a high level but ultimately the joy comes from the personal relationship I have with my craft.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
This is a tricky one and probably why I don’t have a ton of new friends, HA for a lot of my joy circles around my personal bubble. My best days revolve around my kitchen, my garden/patio, my sketch book, personal library and my bar but for a minute let’s pretend that I am more of a social animal!

Let me first say that the city of Los Angeles is one of the greatest cities in all of America (yup I said it!) I think we would begin the morning with a quick dog walk down to my new favorite coffee spot Palm Grove Social on Washington Blvd. Coming from Silver Lake where there’s a solid coffee program on every single block, PGS is a true blessing for me. Upon our return we would probably pick a few tomatoes from the garden and cook up a little homemade shakshuka and toast up a little bread that I have been baking almost weekly for the last ten years now. I think we would spend a little time downtown in the Fashion District” so I could show them how the “sausage is made”! Depending on the time of year we might get dolled up and make our way to the Dorthy Chandler, for years I had season tickets to the opera, 1. because I love classical music and 2. I thought that it would make for a swanky date…shockingly a lot of the ladies don’t like opera but they do love Badmaash and Redbird! Finally, at some point we will begin at Cafe Stella and end at Bar Stella…no explanation needed obviously.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
I am the product of the most amazing teachers Los Angeles has ever produced! My continued success is a bi-product of their efforts, talents and determination to not let me fail (and at times their ability to help pick me up when I did fail)! Whether it be Dublin Elementary School, The Buckley School or The University of Southern California, I had teachers and professors that “took interest” and I guess that is why I can remember each and every teacher by name and can pinpoint the role they played in my professional, personal and creative development.

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Image Credits
Arabella Dakota Ramsay ChaCha Solis Kendall Galan