Lovely Idea Company hosts member Kate Cook as she works on her projects. Owner Laura Seames hopes the space will become a collaborative environment for her members. Photo courtesy of Laura Seames

FARMINGTON —Farmington-resident Laura Seames is preparing to officially launch her co-working space, the Lovely Idea Company in downtown Farmington.

Seames first opened the space in April 2020. When she first envisioned her entrepreneurial goal to establish a co-working space, she never anticipated (like many) the difficulties it might pose amid a pandemic.

“My idea was to gather and to be together and to share and we had to isolate,” Seames explained.

Seames was able to rent out the space “sparingly” during the height of the pandemic and felt bolstered by the support of locals.

“Everyone was reaching out to me and asking what was going on, kind of assuming that I wasn’t going to make it, not in a bad way but in an obvious way…who knew what was going to happen,” Seames said. “(I loved) the support of the people who saw what I was doing and wanted it to survive and work, cheering me on or collaborating with me.”

Seames has also been encouraged by holding on to her “vision,” which she believes is “beyond the physical space.”

“(If) I couldn’t afford the rent, I didn’t worry because…(my vision) wasn’t going to go away,” Seames explained. “That’s one of the things about entrepreneurship that gets overlooked, failure is common but it’s not the end, it’s not the finish. I think that attitude helped me not give up.”

Having grown up in rural Maine, Seames was inspired by “watching a lot of creative people in my life who wanted to open businesses or tried but either couldn’t or failed because they just didn’t have the resources to do it.”

She hopes that the space not only provides a physical landing space for locals to get work done, but also serves as a place for community, collaboration and connection.

“I want to create the community aspect because I wanted to create that core center of support,” Seames said.

In the coming months, Seames plans to collaborate with a University of  Maine Farmington professor to create a fellowship where a UMF student can use the Lovely Idea Company space to work on their final project and eventually present it with an exhibit to share with the Farmington community.

At this point, those interested in becoming Lovely Idea Company members can reach out at https://www.thelovelyideacompany.com/ for a floating desk rental at $100 a month, which also offers the “best (wifi) you can get in downtown Farmington” and a coffee/tea bar. Seames will soon begin offering rentals for permanent desk spaces and plans to host events.

Though she technically launched the space in April 2020, Seames believes the real launch will come this fall.