Lauri Seghetti remembers that as a child she often liked to rearrange the furniture in her familys home.


Beyond that apparent genetic disposition, the Spokane woman cant explain exactly how she came by the creative talent that led her to become first an interior designer for high-end homes and now a maker of artistically inspired limited-edition clocks, despite having no training in design or art.


I dont know where it began, except my mom says, You were always trying to design something, Seghetti says.


Whatever the impetus, shes getting the opportunity to indulge her creative hunger with abandon. She owns a growing home-based business here, called Never Enough Time Clock Co., whose themed timepieces are being carried by a number of retailers and also are sold over the Internet. She plans to introduce soon a line of greeting cards featuring her artwork, some of it clock-related, and hopes to debut a limited-edition line of dinnerware by fall.


My intent is to have multiple products, most of which would be limited-edition offerings, she says.


For now, though, Seghettis main focus is on clocks. Her 2 1/2-year-old company got a boost last month when it accepted an offer from Costco Wholesale Corp. to have its clocks displayed and sold at a new concept store, called Costco Home, that the big Issaquah, Wash.-based retailer opened last December in Kirkland, Wash.


The home-furnishings warehouse store is Costcos first outlet to specialize in a particular type of merchandise, and Seghetti says it has an upscale inventory. Costco reportedly still is referring to the concept as an experiment, but already has approved opening at least two more outlets and is scouting possible locations in several West Coast cities.


Seghetti says she has designed four clock models that will be sold exclusively through Costco Home and has made her first shipment of clocks to the new 102,000-square-foot store in Kirkland.


She says she expects Never Enough Times relationship with Costco to be a great asset. Her company currently is getting considerable public exposure by having two of its clocks displayed in a $1.9 million Costco-furnished home thats part of Seattles Street of Dreams home show, which began a month-long run on July 11.


Thats very exciting, she says.


Retailers and interior-design companies that are carrying her clocks include Kimberlee Co., at 168 S. Division; Spencer Carlson Unlimited Inc., in Kennewick, Wash.; Carlyle Co., in Seattle; and Schoenfeld Interiors, in Bellevue.


Large-scale pieces


Never Enough Times clocks, all of which are round and designed to be hung on a wall or placed on a stand, are offered in seven sizes, ranging from 8 inches to 44 inches in diameter. Prices range from $115 for an 8-inch simple-design signature clock featuring the companys logo to $879 for a 44-inch clock called The Cathedral, which has a painting of an ornate European cathedral on its face. Other clocks made by the company have names such as Old World Map, Buona Fortuna, Signs & Wonders, and Peace, and are intended to fit with various home decors.


The clocks are constructed of medium-density fiberboard with a canvas surface and are fitted with a German-made quartz movement thats powered by just a single AA battery, yet is capable of turning the 17-inch hand on the largest of the clocks.


Seghetti designs, sketches, and then paints the original version of each clock by hand, from the clock numbers to the art in the center of the clocks face. She says she uses a variety of resources for inspiration, from fashion trends and customers suggestions to her own intuition.


Because each clock design must be produced in multiple sizes, she has collaborated with Phil Brower, owner of Western Color Graphics, of Spokane, to devise a method for creating reproductions of the various clock faces that are as close to the originals as possible. She says she hopes to patent the method, which is a variation of giclee, a specialized archival ink-spray process, that allows ink to penetrate into the canvas. For added longevity, an ultraviolet-light protective agent also is applied that provides an invisible top coat.


Seghetti currently has seven clock designs, and says she has sold a total of 50 to 60 clocks so far, including some via her Web site. She says she expects eventually to have 12 clock linestraditional, contemporary, eclectic, Italian, French Country, and so onand 12 clock designs within each line. She say she plans to limit production to 350 clocks in each design, and to retire each designand replace it with a new oneas that limit is reached.


Never Enough Times clocks, each signed personally by Seghetti, come with a numbered certificate of authenticity, a registration certificate that buyers can send back to the company so they can be notified when their clock design has been retired, and a card with a message of inspiration or hope. Its two smallest clocks, eight- and 12 inches in diameter, also come with a stand. Seghetti says she plans eventually to set up an area on her Web site where owners of the clocks can track designs that have been retired and buy and sell the clocks amongst themselves.


For now, Seghetti, who is married to Robert Seghetti, part-owner of Acme Concrete Paving Inc., is the companys only employee. She designs the clocks in an office at the familys stately, secluded home here, and uses part of the basement for assembly and packaging of the clocks. She says, though, that she rapidly is nearing the point when she will need to hire someone to help her and also will have to move the company out of her home and into a larger space.


Im definitely in a growth spurt now, and trying to figure out the best approach (for handling that growth), she says. She declines to reveal sales figures, but says the company became profitable within the last few months.


Artistic evolution


A Spokane native and Mead High School graduate, Seghetti says she began doing interior-design work many years ago, initially just on a sporadic basis for friends who noticed she had a knack for it and later for builders of high-end homes. Enjoying the work and wanting to expand it further, she started her own interior-design firm, called Design Ispirato, in late 1996.


Never Enough Time Clock Co. evolved from that experience, she says, as she discovered that some clients wanted more variety to their dcor than just another piece of framed art. Finding that they liked the idea of art that has function, she came up with the idea of incorporating art into clocks.


I researched an average piece of art. I needed something to compete with that across the room, and during the research, I found there werent any companies that did anything of this scale, Seghetti says.


She says the reaction of many people who see her clocks for the first time is, Gosh, theyre huge, but that they then typically begin to develop an appreciation for clocks as works of art.


Seghetti says it took her about 30 hours over three monthsworking at a kitchen tableto design and create her first clock, the one called Old World Map. Shes gotten better at it since then, but the process still can take from a few weeks to a few months, depending on the complexity of the piece.


The greeting cards that she plans to introduce shortly will feature her artwork on the front and be blank inside. Seghetti says she already has had some of them printed, is working on packaging them, and has lined up a couple of retailers here and in the Seattle area who have agreed to carry them.


Separately, she says she has talked with Zak Designs Inc., of Airway Heights, about possibly manufacturing her planned line of dinnerware. Her intent there, she says, is to play off the Never Enough Time name in terms of never having enough time to sit down with family and friends for an enjoyable meal.


Given her myriad ambitious projects, the ironic dilemma for the energetic Seghetti might be that theres never enough time.