Meet Talia Laconi | Interior Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Talia Laconi and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Talia, how has your perspective on work-life balance evolved over time?
Oh boy — I love this question and think it’s so important for people to hear. For me, when I first started my business it was all work all the time. I said yes to absolutely every project that came my way no matter how small it was and often would neglect my own personal needs to get the jobs done. I’m sure there are many other entrepreneurs that could relate to this, but sometimes would be working with like seventeen different clients at once! For an interior designer, that’s hectic. Since those days I’ve learned so many small tools that have compounded over time and allowed me to not only have stronger boundaries with my clients but also a better vetting process for the jobs that I do choose to take on. I’ve also realized that taking care of myself and my physical and mental health is absolutely the most important thing. Once I started making self care a real priority I started to feel way more creative energy toward my projects and to create better relationships with my clients too. For me balance is everything and although there are still crazy weeks where I lose it (as I’m sure we all do!) it’s something that I highly value as a human and a business owner.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
I’ve been running my own interior design business for the past five years, which feels so good to even say out loud. If someone had told fifteen year old me that I would be living in Los Angeles doing what I love and working for myself one day she probably wouldn’t have believed it! But that same fifteen year old me had always dreamed of a life on the West Coast and I’m honestly proud of myself every day for making it happen. When I was growing up my only real dream was to be a professional dancer. I basically spent all of my free time at the dance studio taking classes and eventually teaching them too. At my studio, I had this really kind teacher named Jenni who would to take a group of us parent-free to LA every summer so that we could take classes with some of the best choreographers in the world. I didn’t know it then, but those trips not only proved my love for dance but also ended up being what really made me fall in love with California. As much as I tried to convince my parents that moving here right out of high school was a good idea, I was unsuccessful and stayed in my home state of Florida to get a college degree instead. That degree had me sidetracked for about six years until I finally moved out here in the summer of 2010. I studied Hospitality originally and found that industry to lack creativity and to be extremely draining. Although the hotel and restaurant industry is one that I’m still very passionate about, working in operations wasn’t a lifestyle that I was interested in. For that reason I kept applying for jobs in LA and flying out to see friends to see if I could picture living here. On one of those trips I ended up meeting someone who was going to school for interior design so that he could work in hotel design — and I was like wait, what!? That’s a thing? I flew home and immediately applied to the interior design program at FIDM and made the big move a month or so later. What I thought was going to be a quick fifteen month experience in school ended up being a three year journey with lots of bumps in the road along the way. At one point I fell out of love with design. Another I was just over school in general. Another I got super caught up in the party scene. Another I was ready to quit it all and just teach yoga instead. But in the end, it all worked out the way it was supposed to and even if I could go back I wouldn’t change a thing. Fast forward a few years and a couple design jobs later, I started carbon & bone out of sheer necessity. It was never my plan to be a business owner but the demand was there so I just ran with it. While I’m happy to have made the leap into entrepreneurship, building a business from the ground up isn’t easy. It’s lots of late nights and weekends and can be all consuming to your mental state. It quickly shows you who your real friends are and requires you to be your own biggest cheerleader at all times. I’m not going to lie, there have been seasons where I just want to crumble from the weight of it all. Luckily, the majority of my seasons these days I just feel so damn lucky to be able to help people with their spaces and to do what I love on a daily basis, and it’s something that I will never take for granted.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
My absolute favorite thing to do in LA is to go and see live music. I’m a big concert fan in general, but especially if the artist is playing an an intimate venue like the Troubadour or the Roxy, and the Greek if it’s an outdoor show. I mean there’s nothing better than a warm summer night and some live music, am I right? To eat, we’d definitely hit up South Beverly Grill, Wally’s, Cecconi’s, Craig’s, Sugarfish and the Erewhon hot bar. I mean, what’s an LA trip without the people watching at Erewhon? For a fun night, we’d head over to SohoHouse or Grandmaster Recorders for drinks. For city views I’d take them on a long hike in Griffith Park or a scenic one in Malibu. For design inspiration we’d go to the Proper Hotel in Santa Monica and swoon over it all!

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I’ve got to give my Shoutout to Joe Komar over at Urban 728 Yoga. Joe’s been a close friend and a mentor to me for the past ten years and his classes keep me sane.

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Website: www.carbonandbone.com

Instagram: @taliaray @carbon.and.bone

Linkedin: www.linkedin.com

Image Credits
Zeke Ruelas, Stephanie Tusler, Michael Clifford