As a fashion industry veteran turned artist who recently renovated her home, Laura Madden is keenly aware of how art, couture and interior design coalesce. “I equate art to fashion because they are expressions of personal style,” says the model, stylist and blogger. A sustainable fashion advocate, Madden quickly filled her home with vintage and thrift store pieces and her own artworks made from found objects. “I collect what I consider unwanted art: salvaged canvases, antique frames and discarded, leftover house paint and wood from building projects,” she notes. “There are so many opportunities to do good for the planet, reduce waste and conserve resources. It’s about bringing something discarded and unwanted back into fashion, back to being an object of desire.” Madden’s abstract paintings, textiles and sculptures, created under the moniker ReFashioned Art, are popping up in homes and design showrooms around the Valley, including David E. Adler Fine Rugs, where her art has been reproduced on custom wool-silk rugs. She will also be featured in an upcoming book for the Radically Reimagining Initiative, led by scholar and ASU professor of Environmental Law Karen Bradshaw. Her artwork will appear alongside 11 other artists and an exclusive insider essay about fashion, art and sustainability.

Madden shared her journey from fashion to arts and how the ecological challenges created by the fashion industry drive her creative process.

Q&A With Artist Laura Madden

How did you get started as an artist?

I am self-taught. I have always made my own art. Anytime we moved, it was more out of necessity. I wanted my home decorated, and I wanted it to look and feel a certain way, so I created that artwork myself.

I always loved painting, but it was more about expressing my style and wanting to live in what I felt was a luxury home and a stylish lifestyle—and that meant having a very curated space with original, standout art on the walls.

That was what inspired me to start painting. We moved back to Arizona in 2018, and we happened to have an art studio on the property. This was my green light to create, and I did. I filled my home with art pretty quickly. I was working mainly in fashion—doing a lot of writing, influencer work and modeling—and realized art was where I wanted to spend my time, just creating and doing that for other people.

How do you see art and style intersecting—and how has your work in fashion influenced your art?

Fashion always has been a huge source of inspiration for my work. I would describe my art as giving a fashionable edge to your walls because it is kind of like the jewel, the accessory, that luxury handbag that you add to an outfit.

Fashion was always extremely important because it would affect my mood. A great outfit could lift me up, and I noticed art had the same effect on me. When I put artwork that I love on my walls, it gives me a charge. Art is an expression of personal style. When you surround yourself with something that really is you, it can elevate your mood.

What else inspires your work?

I’m a nut for interior design. Looking at photos of or being in beautiful interiors inspires artwork that I want to make for those spaces.

Also, I like the notion of helping people feel stylish. I was helping people with styling and wardrobe, which made them feel good, and I noticed it’s the same thing when I’m able to provide a piece of artwork to someone. It helps them feel stylish. That motivates me because I know how good that feels.

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What’s your creative process, and what items do you use to make your art?

I collect what I consider unwanted art: salvaged canvases and discarded, leftover house paint; leftover wood from building projects; and vintage and antique frames.

I paint over salvaged canvases, sometimes revealing parts of the original painting, sometimes not. But it saves these things that are no longer wanted from ending up in landfills. There are all these opportunities to do good for the planet, to reduce waste and to conserve resources.

Once I consciously decided to dedicate my practice to using reclaimed items, I realized there’s no shortage of stuff. I can go to estate sales, thrift stores, neighbors and friends.

What drives you to reuse and reclaim items for your work?

It was very much through fashion. Early on when I got involved in fashion professionally, I learned about the detrimental environmental effects the industry was having on the planet. That bothered me deeply.

That’s what got me motivated to challenge myself to use second-hand clothing to reduce waste and conserve resources. It has driven me to collect these discards and transform them into something stylistic, cool, modern and new again.

I decided to label my business ReFashioned Art. “Refashioned” is about bringing something discarded and unwanted back to fashion, back to being an object of desire.

Tell me a little bit about what you’re working on now.

I’m developing my sculptural and 3D work, scratching the boundaries of what’s possible using fabric remnants and creating work that feels modern but cutting-edge and stylish.

And you have some collaborations happening.

I am currently collaborating with a designer here in town; her practice is called Smyth House. I created a custom tapestry out of a remnant piece of fabric for her showroom.

I’m also working with David E. Adler Fine Rugs in Scottsdale. He’s reproducing my artwork on wool-silk rugs. So far we have three designs, and four more are currently in production and should be arriving in early 2024. I want to expand my artwork into the home apparel space so that more people can enjoy my work beyond wall art.

What’s sparking your interest as you head into 2024?

Working with the fabric remnants. It re-focuses these discards instead of allowing them to be trash. Overall, I want to encourage people to look for beauty where it’s not normally found.

For more information, go to iamlauramadden.com