When she heard of the opportunity to participate in the 2018 Downtown Pitch competition, Laci Todd saw Macomb’s need for a paint-your-own-pottery studio. Her pitch won 3rd overall and friends encouraged her to start reaching out to banks in the area. Laci secured a loan and was able to open the Crafty Coop on Oct. 20, 2018.
Laci built her studio from scratch, working two to three jobs at a time.
“When I opened the business six years ago, I had a day job so I had to be there and then I would be here at night and here every weekend,” she said.
The Crafty Coop is named after the family’s animals at home.
“We have kitties at home and ducks, chicken and geese,” she said. “That’s why we’re the Crafty Coop.”
On top of drawing inspiration from her family animals, Laci said both her husband and one of her three sons help out.
“[Thomas] is my handyman. He’s probably one of the smartest people I know, he can fix anything,” Laci said. “Whenever I need help with something, he’s here.”
While Thomas works full time and doesn’t help out with the customer side of the business, Laci’s son works part-time for her.
“He is phenomenal and I think it’s really great for him to have this experience with customer service and problem solving,” she said.
Laci expects her youngest son to want to help out with the business when he’s older as well.
“My 8-year-old says he’s going to live with me forever, so he’ll probably help in here when he’s older,” she said.
The Crafty Coop is not just a pottery studio but a home to foster cats. It helps the cats become more socialized and adaptable, with 17 cats being adopted out so far. Everything started with Laci’s first cat, Teddy.
“Teddy is the coop kitty. He is my cat that I’ve had since I was in college and he came to live here not too long after my baby was born,” Laci said. “It started a series of us fostering for the shelter and we take in mama cats and their kittens.”
Although she doesn’t have any future events scheduled yet, Laci has done events for different holidays and has brought in goats, puppies and even a highland cow for customers to paint with.
As she moves forward with the business, hoping to continue working until she is a “sweet little old lady,” Laci hopes to bring in more WIU students and help everyone see the benefit of the art of creating.
“I get a lot of people that come in and say ‘oh, I’m not crafty.’ You don’t have to be because it’s already cute. You just paint it,” Laci said. “I like to say we create memories and masterpieces here. So come in and create memories and masterpieces and spend time with the people that you love.”