Elise McMahon comes from a family of artists, small business owners, journalists, and teachers. "I directly reflect an intersection of my family members’ interest in creative storytelling with an ever-evolving melding of life and work.”

McMahon studied furniture design at the Rhode Island School of Design, and when faced with the recession in 2009, she immediately took on freelance design projects and began to build the framework around her own design studio. After working with several nonprofits, particularly the Kokrobity Institute in Ghana, McMahon felt the need to deepen her practice around healthier scalable production and global waste streams, and ultimately received her MFA in Industrial Design at the Parsons School of Design. In parallel to all these projects and experiences, she was growing a brand of her own: LikeMindedObjects (LMO).

Based in Hudson, NY, “LMO is a design studio that creates joyful products, furniture, clothing, and spaces while prioritizing regional manufacturing systems, healthier materials, and finding alternative uses for what otherwise would be considered waste.” The storefront acts as a showroom, office, and studio, and is used to develop projects and products that reach far beyond the Hudson Valley.

A typical design process either starts from the material, for a material-driven design, or with waste material, for a waste-driven design. Next, it’s harvesting or sourcing that material, observing its strengths, and designing to those strengths while exploring how to elevate basic or underutilized materials. “There’s an experimental phase which could end up in sculptural forms, then a prototyping phase where I apply it to a function roughly, and then the finished form, where I have developed the idea far enough to propose it to a client or create a sellable product.”

Creating things with her hands, discovering clever ways to connect different materials, and finding healthier systems of products are all things that drive her creativity when it comes to her studio practice. But, when talking about sources of inspiration, it’s the people who use her products that she focuses on. “Whether sitting under lighting we designed in a restaurant or someone sending me a picture of their kid wearing some baby pants we made, there is nothing more fun for me than seeing people using my things in their everyday lives. It makes me feel connected to the everyday human experience.”

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When asked about some of her favorite pieces, it was the recycled glass lamps she was most excited about. As part of a long collaborative research project with her colleague Tri Vo, the lamps were created out of questioning why the glass recycling system wasn’t working. They chiseled the molds from locally sourced cherry wood, crushed recycled bottles from local restaurants, melted the glass down in a New York City studio, then slumped it into unique shapes.

“I suppose I like that they walk the line between straightforward and experimental.”

Although McMahon sells products, she believes the most successful interaction within her design space is when someone “leaves inspired to make their own thing.” She wants every person who walks out to feel joyful, curious, and excited about the idea of a DIY anti-consumer lifestyle. This perspective cultivates a genuine and circular environment and says a lot about her design style and motivation. “I don’t hide how things were made, I want the materials to tell their own story of how they are manufactured, where they come from, and play with their perceived value.”

And when it comes to the future, McMahon has an expansive vision. “While LMO will always engage in the development of products and furniture – as that is my first love and access point for these conversations – I imagine it will also at times exist as a lab for materials research, a space to enact curatorial projects, and a consultancy to support other businesses.”

Find @likemindedobjects in Hudson, New York. www.likemindedobjects.com

By Shannon Kachuba

Images courtesy of LikeMindedObjects

Volume 9