Us & Our Values

What we say and (more importantly) what we do to support our words matter to us. To see the change we want in the world, we must first embody and shape that change within us. Only from there can it ripple outward and transform the world around us.

Below you can read about our values which inform every decision we make.

  • Community is the heart, and knocking gates off their hinges(!) is how we grow larger and stronger.

    We know of the many gate keepers there are in the commercial art space. Behavior for the creators who feel their success must equal the dimming of others. We don’t believe in a world that operates in that way. We believe in nurturing a world that believes success is directly correlated with the opportunity and joy we bring to our community. Here is what we do to keep the gate open, and the ladder down.

    1. OPEN WORKSPACE — Through our Café Workspace program, we open our CAFÉ to be used as a personal office by creators in our community. With a seating capacity for up to 40 guests, guests can bring friends, collaborators, and clients to indulge in conversations while we prepare incredibly refined espresso and tea to enhance their experience. This is where great ideas are channeled.

    1. OPEN STUDIO — Through our Work To Play program, we aim to truly and equitably support our tight community of creators through the use of our STUDIO. Our objective is to always share space and resources that empower creators to actualize insanely great ideas. This is where great ideas come to life.

      Still under development, but coming soon :)

  • Creating clean. Good for the planet, good for you.

    With every project regardless of scale, we inevitably create some form of waste that impacts the planet. We believe in limiting that waste as much as we possibly can. By stacking many small shifts in habits, turns out we can create great change. Here is what we do to target these giant problems in our industry:

    1. SINGLE USE MATERIALS — Rechargeable batteries, ceramic serve ware, compostable straws, refillable soap bottles, and many others are how we limit waste. This is an ever-evolving effort that will grow as we grow.

    2. CARBON OFFSET — Through our Do The Right Thing initiative, we aim to give back what we take from our planet. With your help, we contribute to programs, like Terrapass and 1% For The Planet, to minimize our climate impact. Together we can experiment and create to our heart’s fulfillment, but always clean.

    3. FOOD CONSERVATION — Whenever possible, we partner with Rescuing Leftover Cuisine, a national 501(c)3 nonprofit food rescue organization, operating across the United States and headquartered in New York City. RLC redistributes excess food to feed people experiencing food insecurity. With no minimum pound requirement, we take your leftover catering (so long as it’s compliant with RLC-issued guidelines) and coordinate with their dedicated rescuers who pick up excess food and deliver it to a local nonprofit recipient, where it is then distributed to the food insecure.

Meet Our Founder

Michel Oscar Monegro

Hi :) some of you may know me personally but many may not, so allow me to explain why I started us on this journey.

Firstly, I believe most things we do should start with a clearly defined reason, our “WHY.” Mine for shaping LAOBRA wasn’t originally an entrepreneurial pursuit, it was born out of falling out of love with my work. I earned a living as a Digital Technician for Photographers working in the advertising space. By superficial measures I should’ve been happy. I earned well, worked with great clients, and enjoyed the company of my colleagues. As grateful as I remain for that era of my career, I just wasn't feeling it anymore. I felt my passion evaporating with time and knew I needed to find a way to rekindle the fire for creating I once held in my heart.

I felt I needed space where I could experiment with complete freedom, tinker with all things I found interest in. Some days it could be photography, others it could be beverage fermentation or roasting coffee, even furniture crafting and fabric dying. The key to my own re-discovery of passion has come from shaping a space that would welcome experimentation, better yet encourage it. A space that would serve as a conduit between us and that pure feeling of excitement brought on by child-like play.

LAOBRA calls out to other creators who feel disillusioned, creators who want to get back to creating what makes their heart sing. Beyond our unique design practice, our goal for LAOBRA is for it to become an ecosystem of unique spaces and resources. One that we can all use to work, play, create, and grow together with a sensitivity for the planet and our collective well-being.

The journey here has been all enlightening and challenging, fulfilling and frustrating, heart warming and transformative. The process of building LAOBRA up to where it is now, nearing the starting line, I’ve grown and I’ve learned in ways I didn’t imagine i could. Given there’s so much more to learn and do, I’m grateful.

Someone I admire told me to “think BIG, LIMITLESS, WITHOUT BOUNDARY” when thinking of our contributions to the world around us and those in it. I have faith our path will continue to push us everyday toward bigger ideas so long as we remain open and in-process. Good things deserve to happen, rooted in this belief we grow.

The STUDIOS and the CAFÉ are the first and second branches of the fruit tree that is LAOBRA. These branches will grow larger, and others are planned to grow in time. All existing symbiotically with a definitive singular purpose, empowering creators.

We work together, we play together, we grow together.

Cheers to keeping our Hands at Play <3

photo by James Hartley