Launched in 2005, WellesleyWeston Magazine is a quarterly publication tailored to Wellesley and Weston residents and edited to enrich the experience of living in two of Massachusetts' most desirable communities.
Issue link: https://wellesleywestonmagazine.epubxp.com/i/148623
Judy O'Neil Labins Shafer O'Neil Interior Design vice president of the company, in charge of product development and matic change," advises Labins, "you better put your ducks in order first marketing, having travelled the world developing roughly 3,000 retail and have a little bit of a cushion to get you over the hump while you products a year. "It was a fabulous ride," says Labins, but it was also an are building because it doesn't come free." And there was also the per- incredibly demanding job and eventually the travel and lifestyle began sonal reconciliation that came with losing a long-held career identity. to take a toll. But all the sacrifices paid off. "People don't hear their own joy," says In 2006, Labins retired from Boston Warehouse and began to do Labins. "They don't hear their own messages very loudly...If you really her own product development through an Asian trading company that have enthusiasm for something, that enthusiasm will carry you she had previously established, eventually winding that down a few through the doubtful moments and you should pursue it." years later. A self-described "doer," Labins was faced with the question While Labins enjoys her current career so much that she views it as of what to do next. "I had such a macro world," says Labins, "I said almost a reward for all her prior hard work, there's still that ever-pres- 'What can I do that is more personal?' Still design, but a much more ent inner voice wondering what's next. "I love to build from nothing," personal expression of design." She remembered that as a child she she says. "I love visions." loved filling scrapbooks with floor plans and drawings of mini-houses and decided to enroll in an interior design course. She did a full reno- Scratching the Itch vation of her own home that was featured in New England Home Weston resident Laurie Grossman, owner of Ox Bow Decor, spent over Magazine and televised on NECN as a dream house. Clients came call- three decades working as an art consultant, scouting artists and visit- ing. A retail store followed shortly. ing their studios on behalf of her corporate clients, before she realized We l l e s l e y We s t o n M a g a z i n e | f a l l 2 0 1 3 Labins has had a smooth transition between careers; she can easily point out how her past experience in product development strength- ing to my husband how much I missed having my own studio and ens her interior design skills, but she still faced challenges when start- working and getting my hands dirty and doing that whole creative ing her own business. First, there were the financial realities of starting venture," says Grossman. "And he finally said, 'Enough complaining. something new and entrepreneurial. "If you're going to make a dra- 140 that she wanted to be on the other end of the transaction. "I kept say- Go back and do your own work.'" Grossman, who has a degree in art MAURA WAYMAN business "a place where she could make a difference"