Popular local blogger, designer creates gorgeous folk art

Editor's note: KSL.com does a weekly feature on artists in the community. If you have a painter, sculptor, musician or creative genius in mind, feel free to email your submission to fjolley@ksl.com. Please include a contact email for the artist, if available.PROVO — Brittany Jepsen, a California native who made her way to Provo by way of Copenhagen, is a designer with a colorful and bold aesthetic who has made her way in the art world by embracing blogging and the community that comes with it.

Jepsen is a designer with an eye for fun crafts and whimsical parties. With a line of her own products, in addition to the licensed products and a floral-inspired coloring book she’s designed, it seems she is always in the middle of something you want to be a part of.

But she didn’t start out intending to take her talents to the internet. Growing up in an artistic home in Dana Point, California, her mother shared art with her through her formative years before Jepsen began studying art history. After graduation, she worked in a library and for a hotel company designing interiors, where she realized she missed making art. She went back to school, attending graduate school in Washington DC studying interior design, working as an intern at design firms in NYC, and attending textile design school in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Jepsen had started a blog, The House That Lars Built as a graduate student, but while unable to legally work while in Denmark, she poured herself into it, discovering a new venue for creating.

“All of these experiences helped me in some shape or form to what I've done today,” Jepsen said. “I never would have imagined that I would do crafts for a living, especially since I studied art history and interior design. But circumstances led me to it. After we received a lot of press of our 2010 wedding, my blog received a lot of attention so I started to get asked to contribute different DIYs from it. My work has come full circle. I create work that I loved to do as a child. Ha! But hopefully the skill and quality are a bit better than that.”

These days, Jepsen lives in Provo with her husband, and she works on the blog full time, in addition to creating products.

“I consider The House That Lars Built a design services company,” she said. “The tagline is ‘an artful life’ so anything that goes into creating an artful life is something I'm interested in: a well-styled wardrobe, a beautifully kept house, a coloring book for meditation. To me, an ‘artful life’ is a deliberate one. It's purposefully welcoming the beauty into your life. I truly believe that beautiful things affect your being and we have the choice to surround ourselves with those things.”

Throughout her work, Jepsen’s love of florals and bright colors and cultures shines through. Everything Jepsen makes —from her delicate, Scandinavian-inspired dinnerware to videos about pool parties sans pools —exudes a saturated-Scandinavian-meets-nostalgia cool. Looking at her blog, Snapchat, or Instagram, you kind of want to jump onboard The House That Lars Built team, foam paintbrush in hand.

“My natural tendency is to go more, more, more,” she said. “Maximalism to the max! I'm definitely not minimal, but it taught me to cool down and show some restraint in my work. I also fell in love with Scandinavian folk in general. That vibe continues to influence my work.”

While Jepsen turns out an impressive amount of content each month, she said she loves it most when readers get involved and show her what they’re making, like #LarsBalloonArch.

“Honestly, there gets to be a time when it comes down to how it influences your life and other people's lives,” she said. “I'm so proud that my work can support our family. And I'm honored that people take the time to make the projects, read my posts, and comment. To know that there are hundreds of thousands of people who follow along on the ride is humbling.”

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