<\/a>\n\t\t\t<\/div><\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWithin 24 hours I had everything cancelled after 10 years of working really hard on it,\u201d Laura explains, still managing a smile.
\nBefore the pandemic hit, Laura was styling and catering events, as well as running sustainability workshops through local councils, corporate businesses and in people\u2019s homes.
\nHer clients included the likes of BMW, Mountain Goat Beer and Specsavers to name a few, as well as Melbourne Food & Wine Festival, the City of Darebin and many others.Almost overnight, her 14-hour working days were abruptly replaced with a clear calendar.
\n\u201cSometimes businesses feel like babies to people because they invest so much time, creativity and love into them,\u201d she says.
\n\u201cI think it only hit me weeks later the shock and the grief of what I had just lost.\u201d
\nLaura says she took time out to grieve while also making a conscious effort to focus on her health and upskilling so she would be ready for new opportunities.
\nThat opportunity came in the form of Tara Lee McGrath from 4 Kings Coffee and Food at Anglesea, who asked Laura whether she would activate a space within her Great Ocean Road cafe.
\nShe took up the offer.<\/p>\n
The result is the Put Your Heart Into It Studio – a gallery, shop and studio which is set up in one half of the cafe which was previously filled with tables and chairs
\nfor diners.
\nLush plants lovingly grown by Laura are dotted around the room while an array of artworks, jewellery, ceramics and other wares created by local makers and artists adorn the walls and upcycled shelving.<\/p>\n