Today we’d like to introduce you to Lyndsay Maver.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lyndsay. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve always been one of those “plant people”. I grew up with parents who were avid gardeners, and I was always taking cuttings of plants and starting them on my own. After college on the east coast I moved to California and then onto Hawaii, and became obsessed with the cacti, succulents and tropical I found there. When I moved back to Boston eventually, my plants followed me. I was working as an Interior Designer by day, and started a side business making terrariums, calling them lynzariums, the combination of my name and terrarium. Using found pieces of glass, I would layer sand, rocks, shells, moss and throw a succulent, cactus or an air plant in the container. The craze took off. I was making terrariums for designers, retail stores, weddings, they were even the holiday gift for LinkedIn one year. My work space was my parent’s basement, which I was quickly out growing and found the perfect studio in the seaside town of Gloucester. I opened the Plant Shack as a kind of weekend work studio. Then having so many creative friends making things around me, I started hosting “pop up” shops on the weekend at the space where I would feature the artist and their work. These ranged from potters, to jewelry makers, to bakers to “make your own” events, each weekend was something different. The community responded so positively to these events, and suddenly, the studio space turned into a store. Eventually I was able to leave my job and Boston and make the Plant Shack my full-time gig.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
The Plant Shack is in Gloucester, a beautiful seaside town about forty-five minutes north of Boston. The community support has been amazing for the store, and through social media I attract people from all over New England. It also helps that I have the best hidden gem vintage store across the street…
It was soooo cold this January that the locks to the front door froze and I had to have my dad come down to the shop with a blow torch to open it up.
Plant Shack – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
Plant Shack is a store where creativity flows. Always featuring different artists. Constantly rearranging the store each week, so each weekend it looks fresh, Always on the hunt for vintage vessels and containers. People love coming in and choosing a container and plant and planting the combination in store. The store has a very laid back, neighborhood vibe, friends and customers have been known to stay for hours.
What moment in your career do you look back most fondly on?
Even though this sounds cheesy the greatest part of having the store is too see how positively the community responds to the different artists I feature, their constant support, the old and new faces that walk through the door, and vice versa it is equally as nice to watch the featured artist fall in love with the community and their support and interest in what is going on at the shack.
Also, the saying is true, plants make people happy.
Contact Info:
- Address: 186 East Main Street
Gloucester Ma - Website: lynzariums@gmail.com
- Email: info@lynzariums.com
- Instagram: plant.shack
- Facebook: lynzarium’s plant shack
Image Credit:
Courtney Perkins
(3 images of hanging plants)
Getting in touch: BostonVoyager is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
