From Waiting Tables to Creative Lives:
Meet Hilary

Some friendships make a lot more sense when you look back at where they started. I met Hilary Williams in 2005 when we were both waiting tables, not long after I'd returned from traveling around the world. We bonded almost immediately over making things, creating things and the general itch to build lives that gave us room to do more of both.

Hilary, or Hilly as I know her, is one of those people who has always had creativity coming out of every possible direction. She's an artist, maker, farmer and one of my dearest friends, and more than twenty years after we met, I still think she's a creative genius.

We Were Making Things Before We Knew Where It Would Lead

One of Hilary's and my first outdoor shows happened outside Vesuvio in North Beach. We were still early in our creative lives, setting up our work, figuring things out as we went and finding people who wanted to come along for the ride.

Eventually there were annual holiday parties at our homes where we'd sling art and jewelry while feeding friends and customers. Some of you who have been around CMD for a very long time may even remember those parties. I love thinking about those early years now because neither of us could have known exactly where all that making would lead us.

A Creative Life in Sonoma County

Hilary eventually created a pretty magical little world for herself in Santa Rosa called Lettuce Laugh Farms. When I first shared this story in 2020, the farm was home to chickens, ducks, goats, cows, pigs, cats, a dog and humans, with enough jams, pickles, cheeses, breads, salsa, sausages, chutneys, soaps, vinegars and other handmade goodness coming out of it to make you wonder when this woman slept.

What I loved about it then, and what feels so unmistakably Hilary, is the impulse behind all of it. She has always been someone who wants to make things with her own hands, experiment, learn a new skill and build a creative life that doesn't need to fit neatly into one category.

You can find more of the farm's story through #lettucelaughfarms, and follow Hilary at @hilaryatthecircus.

The People You Get to Grow Up Alongside

One of the best parts of having a friendship this old is getting to watch someone's creative life unfold over years and years. You remember the versions of each other who were waiting tables and squeezing art shows into whatever free time existed, and then one day you look around and realize you've both built these strange, wonderful lives around making things.

Hilary's work has always had that unmistakable quality that makes you know it came from her. I own a handful of her pieces and will probably always want more. You can see more of what she makes through Hilary at the Circus.

There's something really special about having people in your life who remember you before the business, before the studios and before either of you knew where all those creative impulses were going to lead. Hilary and I have gotten to watch each other make, change, experiment and build lives around the things we cared about all those years ago.

I'm grateful for the art, the farms, the jewelry, the parties and everything else, but mostly I'm grateful I still get to call this wildly creative human one of my besties.

Here's to the friends who knew us while we were still figuring it all out,
Colleen

© Colleen Mauer Designs. All rights reserved.
Published: July 17, 2020
Updated: August 29, 2026