Philosophy
My clients are bold, courageous and passionate about creating the future they want. I support them gladly and honestly. Ease, fun and color are important ingredients of my work.
Lara Schmelzeisen is Kontur’s managing director. Having grown up multilingually in Brussels, she’s at home in between various different cultures. With almost 10 years of experience as an independent entrepreneur, she has now brought her artistic and her entrepreneurial side under the single roof of Kontur.
In 2015 she moved to Heidelberg with her family and now lives alongside the Neckar river.
The world is changed by your example, not by your opinion.
In Heidelberg Lara continues her civic engagement. She is one of the founders and board members of Transition Town Heidelberg, an active member in the Foodsharing Community and of the district counsel since 2017. In 2018 she initiated the Repair Café in the neighborhood of Schlierbach.
Office
Kontur’s office is a special place. The prominent green construction trailer in Heidelberg was commissioned at the joinery Hirnholz in 2016, it’s interior was constructed in 2017. It is in action since 2018 and still makes us proud and happy every day.
The office is a place of refuge and coziness. The small room gets warm quickly, thanks to natural hemp insulation and a little stove. Obviously there’s electricity and internet, but also tea and bird songs.
The trailer is a symbol of freedom and self determination and focuses Lara’s work on meaning and joy. It also supports Lara’s Self Hosting technique – the mindfulness of her own thoughts – to think balanced and clearly and in order to fully get involved with her counterpart.
Moreover, our Tiny Office houses all our tools: more than 70 books, 53 brushes, countless markers, 1 Kanban board, 31 kg of paper and post-its (at the time of our annual review 2018) and many more. You’re welcome to visit!
Meeting Room
Kontur’s meeting room is a custom-made yurt. It was built by Angelika Barall of the Red tent Company in 2019 and has been a space for community, training, coaching and retreats in the midst of our lush garden ever since.
Every winter the yurt is asleep; disassembled and carefully folded she rests, inviting us to take a break too. With a few helping hands it only takes 2 hours to put the yurt back up in spring and create a rather magical, round space again.
The Circle has healing power. In the Circle we are all equal. When in the Circle, no one is in front of you. No one is behind you. No one is above you. No one is below you. The Sacred Circle is designed to create unity.
Clients
We were very happy with you and I thank you for the successful cooperation. The feedback from the funding representatives was very positive and the wish was expressed to work with you again next year if possible.
Lara moderated together with a colleague the network meeting “Praxis Europa” with more than “40 agents of transition” over the course of three days in English, all while visually processing and capturing interim and final results. She is equally a professional and warm-hearted and worldly person and we were very happy with her work.
Lara has incredible empathy for situations. Moreover Lara motivated all participants with her lively nature and we have reached further results in our team. Lara was very well prepared and as to content extraordinarily well prepared with the topics of our workshop. Everyone was delighted by her colourful visual documentation during the workshop. Thank you, dear Lara, that was more than just a moderation – moreover it was an active contribution and intensive involvement with our workshop.
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Collaboration
I don’t believe in getting bigger. I believe in getting more connected.
Even though Kontur is a one-woman company, it’s in no way a lone wolf. International and digital networking with the Art of Hosting Community, the European Visual Practitioners Forum and the Organization of Illustrators provides for an active exchange with colleagues, for occasional collaborations and for continuous transfer of knowledge.
In the state of Baden-Wuerttemberg, Gemany, Kontur regularly works together with Jakob Kohlbrenner and with the consultants of MAI Consulting. If you’re interested in a collaboration or if you need a bigger team of visual practitioners, just let us know and we’d be happy to help.
