Laurie graduated from New York University with a bachelor's degree in anthropology. She recieved a bachelor's degree in architecture from Pratt institute, and, after graduation, designed low-income housing in Brooklyn and Harlem for the Pratt Architectural Collaborative. She also worked for Steven Holl Architects, and in the architectural setting-out shop at the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine. At the Cathedral, she drafted templates that were used by the stone carvers to create stones for the facade of the Jewish Museum. She spent every lunch hour in the stoneyard learning the craft of carving. Her passion and respect for material deepened, and her desire to become a furniture designer began when she carved her first table out of stone.

It was in architecture school that she explored the qualities that she strives to express in her furniture designs: simplicity, strength, perfect proportion, elegance, lightness, spaciousness and playfulness. Having her work give pleasure to people is most important -- furniture that invites and inspires.