Hi, friends! I’m Maggie Snider, a Charlotte-based multi-disciplinary artist who officially launched Your Modern Designs in February 2022.

Your Modern Designs began with textured art — plaster pieces, fabric art, and DIY accent wall projects — all rooted in my love for organic textures and modern, intentional design.

Where it began:

In December 2019, I was introduced to paint therapy as a way to navigate anxiety and mental health. Creating became my quiet place and my coping mechanism, and for the first time, art made me feel calm instead of overwhelmed. I wasn’t someone who “grew up artistic,” so picking up a brush felt surprising and oddly freeing.

Fast forward to 2021–2022 and that little spark became a business. I left my corporate job, started selling textured art, and spent the next couple of years creating pieces for homes, clients, and collectors while also dabbling in DIY home projects and brand collaborations.

Enter pottery:

In 2023, I signed up for pottery classes at a small studio purely as a hobby — and instantly fell in love with clay. Something about the process, the slowness, and the imperfections felt grounding in a way I didn’t expect. Week after week I found myself pushing past the “rules” of wheel throwing and experimenting with designs that felt more like me, especially my signature squiggly handles.

As I started bringing pieces to local pop-up markets, they sold faster than I could make them and people kept asking for more. By late 2024, my parents helped me build out my own pottery workshop so I could begin producing for shows, and in 2025 I made the decision to lean into pottery fully.

Why the shift:

Pottery reignited something for me creatively. I found a new joy in making functional art that people use and love every day — mugs, tumblers, boards, and home pieces that are modern, a little quirky, and always one-of-a-kind. I also learned that the things that did best for me were the pieces that didn’t look like everyone else’s. Once I stopped trying to make “studio pottery,” and let myself design intuitively, the work started to feel honest and successful.

Mental health & creating:

2025 was also the year I feel like I made huge progress with my anxiety. It’s always a work in progress, but I’m grateful for how God used creativity (and honestly the business itself) to give me structure, joy, and genuine peace. Pottery feels purposeful — there’s something about someone using a mug every morning or gifting a piece to someone they love that makes it feel meaningful in a way textured art never has for me.

Today, I sell pottery full time and focus on functional pieces for the home. My textured art is still available in limited online releases, but my in-person markets and shows are now 100% pottery — and I’ve never felt more aligned in my work.

If you struggle with mental health, creativity, or comparison, you’re not alone. I hope my story encourages you to make something with your hands, take up a class, or try the thing you’ve been scared to do — you truly never know where God will lead you.

- Maggie

“Work willingly at whatever you do, as though you were working for the Lord rather than for people.” - Colossians 3:23 (NLT)