It was 2019, and Laura Madden had a realization. Leading up to then, her career had included 15 years in the fitness industry prior to a switch into personal shopping, styling, blogging, and teaching cooking classes. Through it all though, art had been a hobby.
“It was something that I had done for myself,” she says. “I made art for my own home every time I moved, but it was like a faraway fantasy that someday I could do it as a career. It was always in the back of my head.”
Then it was 2019.
Embarking on Her Dream Career
“One day then, I realized that art was almost an impulse thing for me,” Madden says. “I had made so much art, and it dawned on me that there wasn’t anything I wanted to do more for work.”
She decided to pursue a professional art career and launched Refashioned Art, creating stunning 2D and 3D modern abstract artworks made from unwanted materials, repurposed items, and reclaimed materials.
“Fashion was also always a huge passion of mine and when I was in the industry professionally, that’s when I learned about the environmental impact of fashion. It’s one of the biggest polluting industries on the plant.”
This led her to begin shopping secondhand and local.
Helping Save the Planet
“It’s part of the circular economy,” she explains. “Keeping items in use that have already been made.”
Madden became a big supporter and advocate of sustainability, promoting a sustainable lifestyle on social media, writing about sustainable fashion, and eventually, creating art that also incorporated her mission.
“Even today I mostly shop at least 90% secondhand,” she says. “I love finding unique items, but at the same time, it really is mission driven. I’m feeding my passions [of fashion and art] but also doing something good for our planet and lowering my impact on the planet. It’s important to me to share as much style and beauty in art as I can while also sharing the importance of doing good for the planet. It just makes sense to me.”
Making Art
To create her works, Madden collects unwanted canvasses, fabric remnants, wood scraps, leftover paint from home renovations, and more. She’s always on the hunt for unusual items, though “it might be a year before I have an inspiration to apply to that piece.”
She collects unwanted items from people’s homes, charity stores, antique stores, and estate sales.
“I look to collect things that would otherwise end up in a landfill,” she explains. “Fabric is what I use most right now because that’s really what ends up a lot in the landfills—and that’s inspired by my fashion background.”
Word-of-mouth draws admirers, followers, collectors, and even collaborations. Recently, celebrity chef Christopher Gross of Christopher’s at Wrigley Mansion gave her several of his old chef coats to incorporate in her pieces. Stay tuned for more on her "chef series."
Creating Collectibles
She quickly became noticed as an artist, and while she is mostly self-represented, several of her works are displayed around town, including at the Gallery Bar at High Street, Kenect Phoenix in Downtown Phoenix, and in the showroom at Smyth House Interior Design.
She spends her days working in her home studio, working on new pieces and commissions.
And while the sustainability factor inspires her, she also points out that using the unconventional materials that she does is first and foremost her overall style and aesthetic of choice.
“If you don’t grab people with the style and aesthetics, it’s not going to matter if it’s good for the planet,” she says. “Still, I do feel like I can at least set an example for other people. Living a stylish and luxurious lifestyle is important to me—it feeds my soul and it’s who I am, and I hope I can set an example that you can have both. I hope to inspire people to at least give it a try.”
Shop.IAMLauraMadden.com; Instagram: @refashionedart