Madeline Shaw
Hi! Who are you?
Hi! I’m Madeline, most people know me as Maddy but I am trying to reclaim Madeline in these more mature years! Ha!
I live in South Orange with my family, we’ve been part of the Soma/Mapso community since 2015 which feels like forever and we wouldn’t have it any other way.
Tell us about your business
My business is Shapes For The People. I provide color consultations and interior styling for people seeking a vibrant touch! Services range from ad-hoc hourly consulting sessions with me to whole-house interior guides for paint, wallpaper, furnishings etc that can be implemented over time, as and when time (and funds!) become available.
I like to think of myself as a guide or facilitator. Perfect for those who are interested in being fully involved in the design process, but need a little helping hand or a friendly push to get over the finish line on some projects. I love getting right into the weeds with people to discover who they are and then using that information to help them to embrace color in their home in a way that makes sense for them.
Oh, I also paint bold, geometric murals!
Where did you grow up?
I grew up in a quaint, quintessentially English fishing village on the East coast of England. I appreciate it’s beauty as an adult, but as a child I found it deathly boring and couldn’t wait to be old enough to move away!
How did you find yourself living in SOMa?
Despite being British, like most others, we moved here from Brooklyn. We’d spent 6 years in Germany previous to our 5 years in Brooklyn and we were looking for something a little more stable once we had kids. We love it here!
What excites you the most about what you do?
I love working with people. I love talking to them, being in their homes, hearing their stories. I love helping them discover what it is they like (and what they absolutely don’t like!) and where they feel comfortable in terms of color. I love to see them be brave in their choices and fall in love with the results. When people come back to me and say ‘My home feels like me’ and ‘I feel at home now that my home looks like me and who I am’, that’s just the absolute best.
What is it about you that makes you so good at what you do?
I’m very decisive. It helps to be that way when working within a field where there really are a hundred options and pretty much all of them are viable. Most people I work with are overwhelmed with choices and are experiencing decision fatigue. It helps to have someone come in who can narrow down options quickly and easily, lessening the stress and the strain of the project.
Share a challenge you faced and how you overcame it.
I was approached by Reddit to design and paint a mural in their new offices in One World Trade Centre. I had never worked for such a corporate client before or in a building with such strict regulations regarding insurance, business details etc. I didn’t know how it all worked, and being a solo business owner, I didn’t have anyone to ask for help. I went back and forth with the building administrators multiple times but just couldn’t get the insurance company to provide me with what I needed; they kept telling me it was’t possible, that I couldn’t legally be given that type of insurance. It was infuriating. After lots of stress and using every connection I had in the insurance industry (which is exactly one person. In England.), I eventually got the certification I needed a mere 6 hours before I was due to start painting the project. The timing was such that if that certificate hadn’t been delivered exactly then, the entire project would have been canned. I aged about 75 years during that entire process. I have never been more stressed and hope never to be ever again!
What’s something that’s surprised you about running your own business?
How little time there is to work on the back end of the business when all the time is swallowed up by the actual work that makes the business a business, if that makes sense?! There’s just not enough time for it all.
And just for fun…
Do you have any magic tricks that you use in your business that you swear by and could share with others?
I recently discovered that I’m hyper focussed when I have music actually in my ears. If it’s on a speaker somewhere out in the room, I find it so distracting, annoying even. But whack that same music through some earbuds right into my brain and somehow it’s the ultimate super-focus-agent.
Favorite songs to listen to when working
Not quite songs, but I’m currently loving The Last Dinner Party, Holly Humberstone and Say She She.
If your business was a color, what color would it be and why?
Ooo! This is a good one! I’m going to shock you all and say White. Lest not forget that white light actually contains all the colors of the visible color spectrum! But science aside, I think white has a bad reputation because it has been so overused and used in the wrong ways too. I love to use white in every single project as it really allows all the other colors to have their moment.
A quote you live by
Ok, this is long and I definitely don’t know it and quote it by heart, but I have it saved on my phone and I share it with people often.
“I actually attack the concept of happiness. The idea that - I don’t mind people being happy - but the idea that everything we do is part of the pursuit of happiness seems to me a really dangerous idea and has led to a contemporary disease in Western society, which is fear of sadness. It’s a really odd thing that we’re now seeing people saying “write down 3 things that made you happy today before you go to sleep”, and “cheer up” and “happiness is our birthright” and so on. We’re kind of teaching our kids that happiness is the default position - it’s rubbish. Wholeness is what we ought to be striving for and part of that is sadness, disappointment, frustration, failure; all of those things which make us who we are. Happiness and victory and fulfillment are nice little things that also happen to us, but they don’t teach us much. Everyone says we grow through pain and then as soon as they experience pain they say “Quick! Move on! Cheer up!” I’d like just for a year to have a moratorium on the word “happiness” and to replace it with the word “wholeness”. Ask yourself “is this contributing to my wholeness?” and if you’re having a bad day, it is.” - Hugh Mackay
Do you have a favorite local store or business that you wish more people knew about?
Yes! Ultimate Upholstery on Valley Street, South Orange. They pick up your items, make them good as new and drop them back to you. What could be better?