Business & Tech
Lana Larsen and Her Accidental Business
What began as a holiday gift project is now a money-maker for this Newport Beach woman.
Do you enjoy gardening?
Lana Larsen does, and she has turned her passion for plants into a home-based business.
In her debut at the earlier this month, Larsen sold hypertufa pots, which are planters made from a substitute for tufa rock. A lighter-weight alternative to traditional stone and concrete planters, hypertufa pots are created from a mixture of perlite, peat moss and Portland cement.
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The idea came about when Larsen saw an article about tufa pots in a magazine, but she quickly realized that, with the weight of the cement bag, she couldn't go it alone. Larsen wanted to make the pots for holiday gifts, plants included, so she asked her daughter-in-law, Suzy Larsen, for help.
It took two days to create the pots, and on day two, Lana and Suzy turned to each other and said, “These are really nice. People would like these.”
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Lana said, “We should sell them.” And that is how Suzy’s Cottage came about.
Using molds, Suzy constructs the pots while Lana handles the business end, promoting and selling their creations to such local stores as Gatehouse, , and .
Lana likes to grow and take care of the grasses and succulents until they are ready to be transplanted into the pots. The pot and plant is sold as one.
When a passerby at the artwalk told Lana that she could make them herself, Lana replied: “They are not as easy as they look.
"Just try lifting those bags of cement!”
When the 40-year Newport Beach resident is not involved in the business of tufa, Lana and her husband, Howard, enjoy spending time with their five grandchildren. Her daughter lives in Arkansas with her three oldest grandchildren, ages 10, 12, and 14, yet Lana makes sure that she sees them every two months.
“I go there or they come here," she said. Her son’s family is just a few blocks away with a 5-year-old and 3-month-old.
Lana is a hands-on grandmother—it turns out she was the one who drove Suzy to hospital when she called at midnight because she was going into labor two weeks early. Her son was back East, but made it just in time for the birth the next day.
Click here to learn how to make your own pots.