Meet Lindsay Bienick Higgins

We recently connected with Lindsay Bienick Higgins and have shared our conversation below.

Lindsay, looking forward to learning from your journey. You’ve got an amazing story and before we dive into that, let’s start with an important building block. Where do you get your work ethic from?

I believe I have a great work ethic and I work very hard and effectively at the things I do no matter what the job. Much of this comes from my mother. I have never seen someone work so hard in life to become so successful at what she did for her career and provide for her family, it motivates me every day to continue to work to put money in my pocket, food on my table, gas in my car, and provide all the love and care my 14-year dog needs.
While I recognize and resented at times that much of my mother’s determination meant sacrifices such as missing spending time at home with her children after school, or missing our sporting events, she afforded us kids the ability to live a better life than she had growing up and I realize now that is all that truly matters and I thank her so much for that.
Over all, she has taught me in school, work and life, to be confident in my decisions, to take the steps that make the difference, and given me the efficacy to know that I can to anything I set my mind to.

Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?

Green Bien Designs is something I really started focusing on in early 2023. I began playing with Polymer Clay and fell in love with its capabilities to take on unique forms and shapes. I love all the different colors that can be made by mixing with mica powders or alcohol inks. Some clays have a translucent effect, some are shinny, some are matte. It opened up a whole new world of possibilities to me.

Since college (I attended the University of Michigan’s School of Art and Design for my Undergraduate degree), I have loved making jewelry. I truly loved metal smithing the most. However, having been years since practice and access to studios with costly fees, my dreams of working with metals have washed away. However, Polymer clay brought jewelry making back to life for me! I can make polymer clay jewelry to look exactly like a miniature strawberry hanging from a necklace.

Green Bien Designs does not just sell polymer clay jewelry, GBD also creates a variety of abstracted colorful floral paintings. These paints mimic nature gracefully dancing over the landscape under the warm sunshine or besides a running creek.

Taking on several art shows and fairs in just the first year, I was amazed to see Green Bien Designs grow. Focusing on more shows/fairs, Social Media growth and my website SEO this last year, I will continue to do more of the same this year, but also have begun a new journey into the Wholesale side of things in selling to a lovely boutique up in Leland, MI.

Things I am excited about are a potential upcoming Sip ‘n’ Shop. Location, time and date are still TBD, but it would likely be sometime end of May or early June.

This Spring and Summer are exciting times because it is Art Show season so you will be able to find me at a variety of artistic events around town and surrounding area. I will be posting finalized dates to my Instagram and Facebook as soon as final acceptances for these shows are sent out.

Looking back, what do you think were the three qualities, skills, or areas of knowledge that were most impactful in your journey? What advice do you have for folks who are early in their journey in terms of how they can best develop or improve on these?

1. Confidence – You have to have confidence in yourself, your art, and your business no matter what. If at first you don’t succeed, try again. Ask yourself if you were the customer, what would you do differently for next time? I’ve seen booths that sell absolutely nothing at one show and get so depressed, but at the next show they sell out!

2. Willingness to do the little things – What are those little things: Social Media, Website SEO, Google Ads (if applicable), Email marketing, QR codes, take-aways, etc. Hit your customers from all angles, make them remember you in their sleep. You can’t expect someone to remember you or find you from seeing you once at a show, you MUST be accessible. If you don’t have the time or means to do these little things, high school kids will do this for you… ask them for help.

3. Book Keeping – Keep track of all your sales and purchases for your business so you know what you are spending/making monthly and yearly. Even if you are not reporting it, it is sooo worth it to know and understand. Even the smallest business can qualify for so many programs. I am sure there are many programs out there to keep track of expenses and profits, but I simply record mine bi-monthly costs in Excel into a work book I created for monthly sales, monthly expenses, art show sales and expenses, milage, external costs, etc, then I can total everything up at the end of the year very easily.

Okay, so before we go we always love to ask if you are looking for folks to partner or collaborate with?

I would love to collaborate on a Wine -&-Workshop for a set group of customers (thinking about 6-8 people) to create their own pair of polymer clay earrings while enjoying wine at provided location. Location can be public or private.

I would provide a set Clay Workshop Kit for a certain price containing all the basic materials needed to create one pair of earrings. I would provide a variety of clay colors and cutters for customers to use. I would first briefly demonstrate how to create the earrings and then walk the class through step by step.

*Note: Because the polymer clay jewelry needs to be baked in an oven to harden and finish, my thought is I would take everyones piece home at the end to bake at my place and then have a set return pick-up date for their finished pieces. If they want resin on top of their pieces I will also apply the resin at home myself as it has toxic fumes and a mask is required.

The event ticket would include the price of the Clay Kit and wine to be served.

I would be looking for one bartender for this service.
I am also seeking an event space for this.

You can contact me at:
248-705-1843
[email protected]
Instgram: @Green_Bien_Designs

Contact Info:

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