Lisa Elin and Erik Craighead’s Style Story

PLACE: Salt Lake City, UT

WORK: Lisa – Creative Director, Photography and Fashion / Erik – President of Video Army

STORY: My day with the Craighead’s can officially go down in the Our Style Stories books as completely and utterly delightful! It started out as a dreary, overcast, raining mess. Wouldn’t you know the one time the sun didn’t shine during my entire week in Salt Lake City was also the one day I had available to visit their home? But we made the most of it… and then some.

As I quickly learned, Lisa is a proud Jewish New Yorker accustomed to the hustle and bustle of urban life and the photography and fashion industries. Erik, on the other hand, is a cool West-Coaster more familiar with the wide open spaces of Utah and California and the world of extreme sports. Together, they’ve found a beautifully happy middle ground in their downtown apartment in Salt Lake City, UT. According to Erik and Lisa, they’re laying low and living small in order to facilitate their love of travel. A month in Tulum here, a month of island hopping there followed by a retreat back to the quiet valley of SLC. It’s the life they love and they work hard to create it.

During our day together, Lisa and Erik gave me a tour of their historic apartment and shared stories of their adventures through artifacts and decorative remnants from their travels throughout their home. Everything has a story in the Craighead household. After our tour, the wine was poured and the cooking commenced and what started as a typical Style Story photo shoot turned into an entire day of chatting, drinking, cooking, smelling, reminiscing, sharing, and dining. For being a newbie to the city and a complete stranger to my guests, I felt like an honorary member of the family.

Now that I’m back in Texas and the high heat of Summer is still bearing down on us, I look at these photos and think about how wonderful that chilly, dreary day in Salt Lake City really was. How great would it be to curl up in Lisa’s pile of colorful sofa pillows again and drink a hot cup of coffee over conversation about art and design, travel and lifestyle? I’d do it again in a heartbeat.

As you well know, the story doesn’t end here. Oh, no! Lisa and Erik shared a bit of their life’s journey and subsequent arrival in Salt Lake City during our podcast interview. In addition, they discussed some fascinating insights into the life of a creative entrepreneur outside of the “capitols” of LA and New York. Come back later in the week for all that. In the meantime, how ’bout we pick some fresh basil, pour some wine, cook a tasty meal, and call it a day? Good? Good.

This story by Hilary Walker