Driving in Alaska traffic, you’ve surely seen the aurora borealis Alaska license plate, featuring a bright green mountainscape with spruce trees. The plate has proven to be a launching point for the artist behind the design and her talented family.
In November 2017, Anita Laulainen won the Alaska Division of Motor Vehicles and Alaska State Council on the Arts’ first-ever public plate design competition, besting 142 other submissions. Laulainen made the design as part of a class assignment back when she was a student at the University of Alaska Anchorage. After debuting on vehicles in 2019, the plate design continues to keep her busy.
“At markets, when people realize I am the designer of the license plate, they say they’re excited to meet a celebrity,” Laulainen laughed. “I’m honestly just happy people appreciate my art, and if they like it enough to buy something, even better! I’ve been most surprised by how many people in the Lower 48 like my items — a lot of people buy items in anticipation of visiting Alaska.”
The Palmer native started Laulainen Arts as a way to raise money for her mom’s medical expenses. Around the same time, Laulainen partnered with a souvenir and merchandise producer to create a line of items featuring the license plate design.
“After we reached our goal amount, and my mom had her surgeries and recovered from them, we slowly started adding more products to our site,” Laulainen said.
Now the business has grown into a true family affair featuring other art from Laulainen, her mother, sister and niece.
“It’s been a passion project from day one, all about having fun and making things I like,” Laulainen said. “I’ve always wanted to turn my art into things like stickers and keychains, cards and postcards, magnets and sticker sheets, so this was like a fun excuse to make it all happen.”
Laulainen currently works full time at an advertising agency in Anchorage, but says she’ll probably take the leap to making the business her full time job “once it’s grown to a scale I’m comfortable with.”
While items are primarily sold online through her website and Etsy, Laulainen also has a display at The Wagon Wheel in Wasilla at markets in the winter months.
“It’s so cool to see when a community, both in-person and online, support small artists and help them share their art with the world by purchasing items from them,” Laulainen said. “In the world of social media and everything being on screens, it can be so easy to take it for granted, but there are so many creatives out there working hard to create amazing things and by supporting them, they can keep making amazing things!”
Laulainen’s design will soon be retired, as the 2023 Artistic License Plate Competition will usher in a new plate. The winner will be announced August 26 at 4:30 p.m. on the Colony Stage at the Alaska State Fair in Palmer. Laulainen is one of seven “celebrity” judges, including weatherperson Jackie Purcell and Olympic snowboarder Callan Chythlook-Sifsof, that will select a winning design that will be available in Alaska through 2027.
Sam Davenport is a writer residing in Anchorage. She's a leo and a plant-person, and loves spending quality time with her dog, Aspen. She is a Real Housewives fan and has been called a Bravo historian.
