After two decades in scrubs, Lauren Rubio comes home to run the family design studio
More than forty years ago, Gus and Belinda Rubio began naming their custom home companies after their three children.
The construction firm carried their oldest son’s name, Gabriel; the fine woodworking shop became Nicholas James, for the youngest. And the interior design studio—launched in 2018 to give their clients a full spectrum of services under one roof—became Lauren Heather Design Studio, for their daughter, using her first and middle names.
Two of the three children went to work for the family business, but not Lauren, who spent the next twenty years in a very different career: medical device sales, specifically spinal implants. “I’ve always been very independent,” says Lauren, who recently returned to the Upstate from Charlotte. “I wanted to do my own thing in a city where nobody knows me, in an industry that has nothing to do with my family—and really prove to myself that I can make it.”
After a successful career spent in operating rooms wearing less-than-inspiring scrubs, Rubio knew in her heart that the time had come to bring her leadership skills back home, where she could embrace her passion for style, fashion, and a life lived in full color at the family business as the head of LH Design Studio. “In my sales career, it all came down to trust and relationships. I feel the same way about this new role, whether it’s a surgeon trusting you to walk them through a surgery, or a client trusting you every step of the way with their dream home.”
Rubio’s vision for her talented four-person team of interior designers is steady, ambitious growth: taking a star-studded studio that has thrived inside the family ecosystem and building it into a standalone firm that can reach more clients and bring a signature timeless style to more homes across the region. “We don’t want to be just a boutique within Gabriel,” she says. “We want to set ourselves apart.”
In fact, you can see the same passion for details that Lauren’s father, Gus, instilled in her the moment you see her vibrant, stylish wardrobe. “I’ll be honest, after the scrubs, I’m excited to wear my beautiful clothes and be surrounded by gorgeous design,” Rubio says with a laugh. You can also see that passion in the meticulous details that her namesake studio has become known for: sophisticated paint colors, thoughtful flooring selections, an ingenious outlet placement, or even the fabric on the smallest pillow most people never even notice. It’s a modern, ageless aesthetic that shines within custom homes from Lake Keowee to the mountains above Asheville.
As for her own house—currently mid-renovation in Greenville, by Gabriel Builders, naturally—she keeps her expectations a little less grand. “I’ll never live in a ten-million-dollar house,” says the mom of a freshly minted kindergartener. “But it’s fun to help another person design one.”
LH Design Studio, 641 Garden Market Dr., Travelers Rest; laurenheatherdesignstudio.com
