Laura Kampf

Wood, Metal, Scrap

I've always found it hard to focus on just one thing.

Of course I wanted to work with wood, but also with metal, film, music, scrap – and ideally all at once! Until a few years ago, I thought my next step was to finally specialize and choose one thing. I can't have EVERYTHING as a hobby, I need a specialty, a profession, something that becomes my career. Thank God I realized that’s not true.

A little over a year ago, I decided to create my very first YouTube video. Until then, I had been “just” a viewer, but the whole maker scene fascinated me so much that I wanted to be more than that. I wanted to contribute. I had finally found something where it was totally okay – even desirable – to find everything interesting, to not specialize, but to develop a wide range of skills. I wanted to be a maker!

So I gathered my courage and uploaded the first video: “Laura’s Walnut Lamp.”

…and then I just couldn’t stop. One video a week, now almost 90 uploads, 5 million views, and 100,000 subscribers. An absolute dream come true for me!

Looking back, my resume now reads like I’ve been preparing for YouTube for 15 years. But all that time, I felt like I just never found the right thing for me.

After finishing school, I spent three years working as a camera assistant in television, then studied design. In between, I worked as a waitress, renovated houses, built flight cases for two years, did small DJ gigs, and eventually landed a full-time job as a Display Artist at Urban Outfitters… It was all fun, but nothing was as wonderful as my own workshop, which I kept building up on the side.

Whenever I had a bit of money left over, I immediately invested it in new tools. After a few years, my workshop was really well equipped, and I was able to bring more and more ideas to life.

And then came YouTube.

Only now, in hindsight, do I realize why video is the perfect format for me. I don’t want to sell anything — I want to inspire. I don’t want to carry out my boss’s ideas, but my own. Most of all, I want to take away my viewers’ fear of doing things themselves.

I taught myself everything. Of course, things go wrong all the time, but I learn every day. Improvising has become my method, but with every new tool and material, I gain new experiences that will help me with my next project. And the more my skills develop, the more ideas I can bring to life.

This reward system of pride in making is unbeatable – it’s simply addictive to build things based on your own ideas, and it’s contagious. A friend of mine once said, “Makers make more Makers” – and I totally agree!

Text by Laura Kampf

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