How to dream big and make things happen with Lauren Henry
Welcome to The Storytellers, our series spotlighting the creatives bringing their ideas to life with The Storyboard.
Step inside the colourful world of Lauren Henry, founder of Common Circus, an online lifestyle store with an incredible retail space and café in Newcastle, Australia.
From merchandising magic to moodboard moments, Lauren shows us how she uses her Storyboards in her creative office space to dream big, get her team aligned and translate what's inside her busy brain into ideas that stick!
Tell us your story!
I'm Lauren, founder of Common Circus — a colourful lifestyle store and café in Newcastle, Australia. With a background in fashion and retail, I had a career pivot during a 'quarter life crisis' that led me to chase a long-time dream of opening my own store. After relocating to Newcastle with my family, I opened our first store by the lake in Belmont. Nearly a decade later, Common Circus has grown to include our flagship Hamilton location — a space that brings together creativity, community and colour.
"Common Circus turned 10 last October and it's been a constant evolution and extension of me and my journey ever since. I named the store to reflect the fact that I wanted it to change and grow as I do in life."
So 'circus' represents an ever-moving, ever-changing space in which I can kinda do what I like and what brings me joy! Plus hopefully brings joy to the community around us too!
How are you using your Storyboard?
I'm using my Storyboards in our office studio, which is located above our retail store — it's a very creative space for me and my team! I have tried to create a space for us to DREAM BIG, be inspired but also allow my team to get a little insight and find connection to what is going on inside my head! A big lesson I've learnt in business is remembering to share and find ways of getting my vision out of my head and sharing it with my team so they can see and execute it.
I have always used mood/vision boards — literally since I was a child. However, I've recently realised just how powerful and effective they can be when you have a team of people working with you. I use the Storyboards in our office to share what's coming in store, but also colour palettes I'm loving and would like used in our marketing. I do all of our graphic design — so I share my inspo and themes so the team can collaborate on them.
"The Storyboard allows my team to get involved and contribute to ideas — which makes for a much better creative process."
How does having a physical space to create a vision board help you bring your dreams to life?
My brain is kinda like a pin-ball machine. I shoot ideas and thoughts around all day long, but I probably only share about 10 per cent of my pin-balls! The rest continue to go around in my head until the idea is clearer or they just completely leave my head (because the idea sucks or is too wild).
A vision board has always helped these ideas (or balls!) make more sense and a lot of the time there ends up being a theme or pattern. Pinning them to a board makes the theme shine through the chaos and allows me to then understand how the idea works in the real world, outside of my pin-ball brain.
I also talk in pictures inside my own head — so attaching words to my thoughts doesn't always come easily. This is fine if you don't need to translate your thoughts for a team of people to understand. However, that's basically my entire job! So sharing pictures or drawings allows me to 'talk' to my team.
When you think about yourself in 5 years' time, what do you hope your life will look like?
Wow, tough question for me. I don't often think this far into the future! Especially with a one-year-old! I am hour by hour right now!
But in five years' time, I really hope to have a humming business on which my family can be fully financially reliant (including my husband, who is now working full-time for Common Circus). I hope I am working even more on the creative side of the business and less on the day-to-day stuff.
I also want to focus on my mental and physical health and be a healthy mid-forties mum who is thriving and has not pushed herself to the side while caring for everyone else. I guess I want to have figured out how to be healthy and successful at the same time — I am yet to nail this!
How do you find opportunities to be creative?
I am lucky enough to have had creative jobs prior to owning my own business. Before Common Circus, I worked in fashion design and there is a very clear creative process in that industry. I also worked for incredibly creative brands who really pushed the boundaries.
"I learnt super early in my working life that creativity is vital and when done right can also set you apart and really determine if you 'make it' as a brand."
Having said all of that, it's only been recently in my own business that I have felt the space and had the time to REALLY be creative. I am not sure whether that's because I am 10 years in or because today's market demands authenticity and uniqueness. So I no longer 'find' time, I make time to be creative.
Some days I am not feeling it but I know when to put it down and not push through. I do most of my creative work in my studio or in the store when I am merchandising, where there's no kids around to distract me!
I think when you are a creative you tend to turn a lot of things into a creative exercise. For instance, even my to-do list is a hand-drawn template on my iPad. So I incorporate 'creative' time wherever I can!
What's your favourite part of your job?
Merchandising the store and playing with stock is by far my happiest place! Especially if I am in the store alone with the music up loud! I love creating spaces and moving things around in order to create the right feeling. I have no formal training in styling or merchandising but I have been playing with furniture and styling rooms since I was a little girl. My mum would let me rearrange the living room and my room as much as I liked and it became something I would do to lift my mood. I don't really know how to explain the feeling or the moods I get in spaces but making a room 'feel' right not only makes me feel like it looks great but it also affects my mental health. So merchandising for me is my happy space for sure.
