Mary Lake Thompson
Mary Lake Thompson started drawing and painting from the time she was a young child and never looked back. She attended the University of Colorado as an art student, before setting out for California and San Francisco’s vibrant art scene in 1970. It was there that she attended the San Francisco Art Institute, and also where she met her husband and future business partner Richard Thompson. After she graduated with a degree in photography, Mary and Richard moved to the sleepy foothills town of Oroville, located about 45 minutes north of Sacramento. Mary Lake and Richard attended the New York Stationary show where she picked up licensing contracts, including one for C.R. Gibson, for which she designed baby books, address books, diaries and paper napkins. Eddie Bauer then placed an order for gift baskets, soaps and lotion, which gave Mary the idea to design gift items and packages featuring her original artwork. Since then, Mary Lake-Thompson, Ltd. has designed and produced soaps, aprons, bath products, drawer liners, sachets, napkins, hats and of course, its signature flour sack towels. Mary has been able to use her own unique designs on all of these products, as well as reproductions of handpicked vintage art.
