“The world is full of magic things, patiently waiting for our senses to grow sharper.”
― W.B. Yeats
Hi! My name is Laura and I choose to identify as a forest fairy. My home is somewhere in the middle of nowhere in Sweden, near a small city called Götene. I live at a very old farm where I can spend countless hours wandering in my beloved forest, learn to grow all kinds of flowers and vegetables, enjoy the companionship of my animal friends and experience tiny joyful moments every single day. Inspired by the peaceful beauty of this simple life, I find myself creating all sorts of things. From video games to Fairy Socks, I bring my imagination to life in the hopes to inspire and encourage others to find their magic and their peace.
This has not always been so. In fact, I was born very far away from here, in a city called Brașov in Romania. I grew up during the worst years of the communist regime and witnessed some really interesting historical events. As a young adult, I became a journalist specialised in technology, which later pushed me towards game development. Games took me from Brașov to Bucharest, then to Milano, Italy and finally to Sweden.
I moved to Sweden in September 2011. Swedish video games are renowned worldwide, and most of them are developed in Stockholm, Malmö or Gothenburg. Yet despite all odds, my job took me to Lidköping, a charming little town some two hours a drive away from Gothenburg. Here, I fell in love with the beautiful nature surrounding Kinnekulle. From Lidköping to Trollhattan, I spent every spare moment wandering in the forest, hugging trees and finding a profound sense of joy. I understood this was home. But even if the place was right, the time was not.
When the studio I was working for went bankrupt, I moved to Skövde, a city well known for its game development university and incubator. There, I became a game production coach and later, a conference organizer. As my career evolved, I decided to move to Stockholm and co-found my own game studio.
And then Covid started.
During isolation, I turned a very small and windowless wardrobe into a tiny office and started to dream. I exited my then company and started my solo studio. To have a perpetual reminder of hope, I called my tiny new company Pronoia - the opposite of paranoia, a philosophy that the world is set up to secretly benefit people. With Pronoia, I published a board game called Zestrea and a fairytale inspired comic book about working too much, called The Lost Sunday.
I also embraced the idea that I do not belong in a city - I never did. I wanted to be close to the forest and to live slowly and sustainably, with the earth being my guide. So I went home. I moved first back to Skövde, and then to a remote farm close to Götene. I call it Fairyland and it is the place where The Merry Fairy comes to life.
A fairy is a magical creature that can fly and spread fairy dust - a magical essence that makes all life bloom.
Fairies belong to the species of fae, which also includes elves and shapeshifters. They can be as tall as a small human and as tiny as a dandelion.
Fairies are quite shy, but in their natural environment - typically very remote places, untouched by human hands - they tend to be quite carefree and clumsy. These treats are sometimes mistaken by old folklore as mischievousness, but fairies are very kind and loving creatures.
Some fairies may fly in a peculiar way. Instead of lifting their body up to the sky, they learned to let their heart fly freely instead, by indulging their entire being into creation. They paint, write, sing and create all sorts of things, all imbued with a strong, deep hope for the future.
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