How to Make Your Home Feel Like No One Else's

An interview with the artist behind the internet's most coveted lava lamp

When thinking about the long-term impact of my magazine, I wish to see a wake of small businesses positively impacted by the publication. I want to connect you to artists, designers, and dreamers who are making tangible beauty. And I hope you will choose to support them in any capacity — from leaving a comment here about their work (that they will certainly read!) to following them, to purchasing their work and loving it forever! It is a difficult and demanding path to be an entrepreneur.

If there is anyone who can show them warmth, genuine encouragement, and enthusiasm, I know it’s the readers of Feeling! Please work your magic!

Welcome to the first edition of the re-imagined Design Digest column. I hope reading and watching it feels like a perfectly-temperatured latte of your choice. Cozy up, and let me introduce you to Shae!

The Chinatown market was abuzz as usual on a weekday morning. Rolling carts and produce baskets filled the street while the mist from a vendor hosing down plants filled the cold air. I watch as the markets come alive, and we cross the street.

Connor carried the camera, while I wrapped the tripod in my arms. Our heavy coats shuffled loudly up flights of mosaic-tiled stairs in a red brick building in the heart of Little Italy. When the apartment door opens, color floods the hallway. My eyes adjust to the colorful landscape tucked behind the unassuming door, and my jaw drops slightly.

There is Shae, human sunshine clad in a pinstripe denim jumpsuit. Her handmade lace earrings dangle as she speaks, and warmth seems to radiate off of her as she kindly offers us water. Shae pivots slightly toward the kitchen, revealing Mooshu, a beloved rescue cat from Staten Island, on his perch on the corner of the couch. He allows me to stroke his head, and I feel honored. After I have thoroughly acknowledged Mooshu, my eyes wander through the apartment where every single item looks unique and handmade.

It is a wonder to walk in a space that feels like you’ve never seen any of the pieces before. I quickly realize this is because Shae has made nearly everything in the space herself — hand-sewn photo slide lighting fixtures, hand-stitched pillows, upcycled tables, and a small army of dancing ceramic lava lamps in every windowsill.

Meet Shae, the artist behind Shae Studio, and the creator of the most beautiful ceramic lava lamps you will ever see.

Here is a peek inside her magical world, and an exclusive look into how she produces her iconic groove tubes inside a one-bedroom apartment:

Assistant to the Chief of Surgery to Full-Time Artist

Shae grew up on Long Island with the dream of working in the medical field. She worked as an assistant to the Chief of Surgery at a cancer research hospital in New York. There, her days were full of technical precision and emotional heaviness, especially during COVID. Though she felt passionate about her work, the environment weighed on her and prompted her to consider what she wanted the rest of her life to look like.

Feeling a call toward creativity, she enrolled in night school to study graphic design and grad school for communications design. Shae describes herself as a “bad graphic designer” because every school assignment made her want to work with her hands instead of on the computer.

Her dad gave her a cheap lava lamp from the mall (Spencer’s, to be specific), which she had perched in her small apartment. She found herself staring at it constantly.

"I looked at this thing I was so enamored with and thought this has the potential to be so cool. There's nobody out there caring about the lava lamp and wanting to see it be the best version of itself."

As an experiment, she covered the base in air-dry clay to make the piece more sculptural. After posting a picture of the modified lamp online, her friends lined up to buy one. There was a gap in the market, she recognized.

And then the “Groove Tube” came to fruition.

Unexpectedly, a video she posted restoring a lava lamp her cousin found on the sidewalk took off online. Hundreds of people were asking for their own concrete lava lamp. She didn’t start out with a ten-year business plan. Sometimes, entrepreneurship is simply taking the next natural step forward.

So Shae got some pink rubber gloves and started building this business for real. Her first batch, made of solid concrete, launched in May of 2025.

Since then, every release she makes sells out within minutes.

A 500 sq. ft. One-Bedroom Apartment Becomes an Art Studio

Each lamp takes about four weeks to produce by hand. Combine Shae’s background in medicine and science with her artistic eye and “everything is figure-out-able” spirit, and you have Groove Tube magic.

She has the creative process down to a science, literally.

Shae’s crafting pegboard, hung in the bedroom

Concrete casting in the kitchen is first. She created her own silicone mold designs thanks to “YouTube University.” Hand-mixed concrete is poured into molds to harden for hours. The concrete forms air-dry in her apartment (resting on dice to prop them up) before she uses a custom-rigged sanding box to sand the concrete (also on the kitchen island).

Then the sealing and painting process takes place. She has a full palette of available colors for custom orders. Cozied up at her coffee table, she wires each tube by hand. Shae sees ugly cords as a design problem and makes cord covers from textile waste to complement each piece. She sews the salvaged textiles herself, of course.

Finally, like any good designer, she prototypes and tests her product. Lamps sit near her window for a couple of days so she can observe the flow of the wax and confirm that the color and movement look just right.

The kitchen island serves as a concrete casting workspace

While the process is time-consuming and tedious, Shae is committed to keeping the joy of it all alive.

“A lot of people who hand-make things and find their product in demand hit a slippery slope of over-promising and then not liking the fun part anymore. I'm aware that phenomenon exists."

How refreshing to make something that does not have to scale. Not everything has to be manufactured. Not everything has to be huge. We can make because we love to make. We can set a limit on what we can physically produce, and stick with it, preserving the fun of the art itself. It was refreshing to hear her perspective in a world that says more more more!

“I still love making them and enjoying the process. That’s what I want to protect.”

Every element of her apartment feels homemade, because it is.

How Objects Make a Space

Mooshu with Shae’s color offerings

After watching concrete be poured, and molds gently get burped for bubbles, we sat back down. Inspired, I dug a little deeper. Why objects? Why not furniture, or something more grand in the scheme of a designed space? Why do you think that objects are so important?

"Objects set the tone entirely. I was so guilty after grad school of furnishing everything from Ikea. Mass-produced pieces where you could find a similar apartment anywhere in the world. What attracts me to handmade objects is that your space feels unique and bespoke. The human touch is there."

I gaze around the room again. She’s right. Every piece has an interesting story, and therefore, the entire space feels distinguished by the narratives. Nothing is repeatable. She’s meticulously thrifted antique pieces, modified furniture herself, quite literally created her own decor, or purchased items from another artist. The process of making a home feel “human” does not have to be expensive, but it will take time.

We discuss how going slow with design ultimately creates a richer, textured home. I laugh and mention that throughout my life, I want to pick items in my home that my grandchildren will really want one day. Not because they are pricey, but because they have never seen anything like it anywhere else.

I think HGTV made us think we should move into a house, decorate it hastily, and then live in it for a very long time, exactly as we originally decorated it. But Shae draws out the conclusion that home can be much more interesting if we choose to make it so. A slow build-out is more flavorful.

“How do you select objects for your home?” I ask.

"You can't buy trendy. You have to buy lifetime: timeless. It's all gut. I look at it and feel joy. That's the filter."

Noting her small space, she adds,

“Everything has to have a purpose: to bring joy or be functional. The trick is storage, storage, storage, and resisting the impulse buys. Sometimes things are cute but they're not for you to live with."

Tips for Enhancing Your Space with Objects:

• Start with vintage. Thrift before buying new, and you will find pieces with history that no big box store can reproduce.

• Buy from artists. Just one handmade object with personality (like a Groove Tube!) can anchor an entire room.

• Be slow. The best homes are built over years (we all know this). Resist the narrative that they are built within weekends.

• Think heirloom over aesthetic.

• Consider function AND joy. If deciding whether or not to buy a piece, make sure it checks both boxes.

• Edit all the time. Your space can constantly change and grow, that’s an exciting thing!

• Cord covers are an underrated detail! Shae taught me this one for sure.

And now, the Hard-Hitting Magazine Journalism You’ve Been Waiting For:

How to Support Shea Studio

Looking at colors together…scheming…

Shea’s website is the central hub for all her creative projects. Since she makes everything herself, you will order a product no one else in the world has. Completely one of a kind! They are released frequently, in limited quantities.

Whenever new Groove Tubes are released or custom Groove Tube orders open up, she announces via Instagram. Things sell out QUICK! So make sure to follow along to get your dream Groove Tube. I have an inside scoop that the next batch will release in mid-June.

If you admire her work, have become obsessed with a certain groove tube design, or something about her story inspired you, please leave her a comment here to read. I’d love for Shea to check the comments like they are fan mail!

P.S. If you didn’t watch the video on your first pass through, go back and watch it to feel this story come to life. It’s so fun to see Shae in creative action (burping concrete molds).

See you next time for Design Digest!

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