Crafting Spaces with Purpose: Meet Jenna Myrland of JM Workshop
BY EMMA GEARY - JANUARY 17, 2025
In the heart of Minneapolis, designer Jenna Myrland is reshaping how we think about space.
It’s easy to love beautiful interiors - our feeds are flooded with gorgeous designs and thoughtful spaces, but there is so much about interior design that the naked eye never considers. Every space you step into, from the local library to your doctor’s office, feels the effects of thoughtful design, or lack thereof. Ever wondered why some spaces just feel better than others? Jenna Myrland has the answer.
Jenna Myrland, Founder of JM Workshop
For Jenna, founder of JM Workshop, the path toward design wasn’t a straightforward one. It was informed by years of experiencing the needs of different cultures and communities working in refugee camps around the globe. Today, Jenna creates visually striking interiors and brands that are deeply rooted in serving the people who inhabit them at her company, JM Workshop. Like any true entrepreneur, her journey to this point is as thoughtful and layered as her designs.
A Winding Path to Design
With a background in community engagement and experience design, Jenna spent a decade working for Alight, an organization serving 4 million refugees worldwide. Her role was focused on community engagement and experience design, partnering with IDEO.org to explore how she could use human-centered design to create dynamic and impactful experiences.
“I loved the job because every day was different. One day we were producing music videos with children at the Myanmar border and the next I was helping to build a coding lab for refugee youth in Rwanda.” (The lab, by the way, is still running and has over four classes of graduates).
As part of the core creative team helping to realize core design principles, Jenna learned the true transformative power of environments and how they shape communities. Yet, something was missing: a hands-on creative outlet.
“I began to have a deep understanding of how an environment and space can impact a community,” she says. “My time with Alight was focused on conceptual creativity, but I missed the hands-on creative work.” This realization prompted her to reevaluate her career path and pursue her own evolution.
Finding Her Creative Voice
In 2018, Jenna decided it was time for a change. After a decade of driving radical innovation, she embarked on a period of exploration. “I needed to integrate my artistic side with my conceptual experience,” she recalls. As a lifelong painter, Jenna decided to lean into her fine art side and take on a year’s worth of commissions, reconnecting with her creativity through painting. “There was something really powerful about connecting to your craft and tapping into a different part of yourself, and I treated this time as an opportunity for hibernation & reflection” she explains.
This period of self-discovery not only reignited her love for art but also clarified her desire to return to creative problem-solving. She began exploring opportunities in placemaking, leveraging public art grants to design installations that foster belonging. Eventually, this led her to the commercial space, where she could apply her skills on a larger scale.
Designing for Connection
Jenna is driven by a principle we’ve long loved at LAB: designing for connection. Today, JM Workshop focuses on small- to medium-scale commercial environments, weaving together Jenna’s expertise in placemaking and experience design. Her projects range from public art installations to restaurants to innovative dental clinics for children with special needs. Jenna emphasizes listening as a cornerstone of her design process. “A huge part of my job is listening,” she shares. “I’ve always thought about barriers—physical, informational, and emotional—and how to remove them by asking the right questions instead of making assumptions.”
Her work is deeply intentional, always seeking to foster meaningful interactions. For instance, while working with a dental clinic for children with high needs, Jenna considered the lived experience of various stakeholders - from the kids to their parents to staff. “It’s about integrating people’s voices and needs into the design,” she says. “Until you remove barriers, a person can’t be fully themselves in a space. So much of design is based on assumption, and I want to take the opposite approach.”
Beyond functionality, Jenna’s designs aim to reconnect people with each other and their surroundings. Whether it’s creating intimate nooks for quiet moments or wide-open spaces for spontaneous interaction, her focus is always on connection. “Maybe we don’t need TVs everywhere,” she laughs. “Instead, we could design more intimate spaces that encourage conversation.”
A Vision for the Future
Jenna’s aspirations extend beyond individual projects. She’s passionate about rethinking how we use spaces and exploring the potential of mixed-use environments like The Burrow in Oakdale, MN. “We’re in an exciting place right now,” she says. “I want to be part of the conversation about creating spaces that encourage connection and move us away from screens.”
Her vision includes fostering more inclusive and dynamic environments that serve diverse communities. She is particularly interested in spaces that prioritize human interaction and challenge conventional design norms. “There’s so much opportunity in thinking about how branding and visuals can communicate a space’s purpose and create an inviting atmosphere,” she notes.
Lessons in Trusting the Process
Reflecting on her journey, Jenna’s advice to her younger self is clear: trust the process. “The creative process often feels insurmountable at first,” she shares. “But if you keep pushing through, you’ll find breakthroughs. Accepting yourself as an evolution is a hard but necessary part of growth.”
This philosophy has shaped not only her approach to design but also her approach to life. As a mother of two, Jenna’s career transitions required balancing personal and professional growth. “When I left Alight, my kids were very young,” she recalls. “It felt like it was ‘now or never’ to try something new.”
Jenna’s work is a testament to the power of design to create not just beautiful spaces, but spaces that truly serve. With JM Workshop, she continues to bridge her passion for creativity and purpose, proving that thoughtful design can change how we live, work, and connect. Looking ahead, she is eager to collaborate with others who share her vision for meaningful, human-centered design.
To learn more about Jenna and see her latest projects, follow her on Instagram or visit her website.
Emma Geary
Emma is the one writing it all down. She's been with LAB since 2021 and is finishing her MFA in Creative Writing in her spare time. Her favorite color right now is cobalt blue.
