Sparkly Soft - Kristen
1. Tell us a little about yourself…what you make and sell,
where you sell, who you are, etc.
As a professional artist, I split my time between jewelry
and the violin. I think what draws me to both is the raw variety of expression
available in each medium. I am always developing my own style and creating what
I want to see and hear.
I would describe my jewelry as contemporary and eclectic. My
influences are varied and often I will utilize elements from many different experiences. For example, I grew up in a home with very minimalist decor. When I crave simplicity and elegance, I make earrings with few twists, few beads, strong colors, and a single focal point for one’s attention. At other times, I incorporate the gilded and complex themes that are expressed in Indian artwork that I saw when I lived in Chennai. I feel that whether you live in the city or the country or a suburb that I make something just for you. And, if I haven’t listed something for you yet, please contact me! I love custom jewelry
requests.
My jewelry can be found online at www.sparklysoft.etsy.com/.
2. How did you get started with crafting and selling?
I began crafting before I can remember, before I realized that many people find creating something of their own daunting. My husband demonstrates this well as he jokes that given enough used match sticks, I could build a house. Much of what I know about crafting, I learned from my mother. She is an amazing DIY woman; she made blinds and drapes, reupholstered chairs, did electrical work, knit, and made many of my dress clothes when I was a kid, and she taught me a lot of these skills at a young age. I am still impressed by her creative genius and resourcefulness. If there's one lesson that she demonstrated more than anything else it's that there is no reason to fear a large project or a new medium. Only a handful of months ago, she joined my grandma (wonder where my mom learned what she knows) and began studying silversmithing. She's already has made a number of very cool pieces of jewelry.
3. What do you enjoy most about your craft?
I love that I get to wear what I make. If I were a chef, wearing what I make probably would not be this cool. I also love to see people enjoying and wearing my jewelry, and love that I can relax while I create.
It is also rewarding to see that my work has an impact on other people. A friend recently posted about a pair of earrings that I had made for her from a pair of enameled fish that I bought in Israel. It's a wild pair of earrings, big and colorful, and the fish are segmented so that they move. When I gave them to her (and she is not a particularly ostentatious person), I told her that she could only keep them if she promised to wear them. She tells a story about how she picks days that need a little extra spice to wear the earrings and dubs them Awesome Fish Earring Days.
4. Describe your creative process...what inspires you?
A lot of my inspiration comes from the materials with which I work. The stones are so lovely in
their own right that I'm often overwhelmed with design ideas. I find myself attracted to form and struc
ture, which has a tendency to appear in my earrings. I also draw inspiration from the people around me, their beauty, and the beauty of nature. I can barely contain myself now that the leaves are turning colors here
in Chicago!
5. What other interests do you have?
As mentioned, I am dedicated to the violin. I love to play and perform, love to listen to music and learn about a piece, love seeing it develop as I learn it. I also teach and I’m finding it far more rewarding than I expected I would when I first began. It is remarkable to see young people learn something new and challenging and do it well.
Additionally, I organize a political action group of concerned citizens (me) that lobbies my husband to get a kitten. The cause has met staunch resistance to date.
6. What do you think of the handmade movement?
The handmade movement is wonderful. To an extent, I'm pleased because people are more and more interested in what I create, but also because the handmade movement fosters creativity that may have remained dormant for people otherwise. I know I’ve a lot
of friends who get interested in learning new things and finding trades that they are good at, where as previously, they may not have had that opportunity to explore themselves in that realm.
I’m pleased to see people moving towards owning something artistic, unique, high-quality and sustainable, rather than mass-produced. People are buying handmade both for aesthetic purposes and to know that real people are benefiting directly from their purchase, rather than large corporations. Plus, I find that the jewelry that I make far outlasts anything that I could find in a store for even twice the cost. Which, to me, says that we’re doing much better for ourselves and our world to buy quality, to buy from individuals, which reduces factory waste, and to buy those pieces that we’ll treasure our whole lives through, not just for a season or two.
7. Is there anything else you would like the public to know?
Do you really want to let me keep talking after all of this??? If I managed to leave any stone unturned, or if you’re interested in my jewelry, I can be contacted through my etsy site, or the blog that I dutifully neglect:
http://www.dornbrook.com/Blogs/Kristen/
Thank you for the interview and the opportunity to share some of
my thoughts with you!
1. Tell us a little about yourself…what you make and sell,
where you sell, who you are, etc.
As a professional artist, I split my time between jewelry
and the violin. I think what draws me to both is the raw variety of expression
available in each medium. I am always developing my own style and creating what
I want to see and hear.
I would describe my jewelry as contemporary and eclectic. My
influences are varied and often I will utilize elements from many different experiences. For example, I grew up in a home with very minimalist decor. When I crave simplicity and elegance, I make earrings with few twists, few beads, strong colors, and a single focal point for one’s attention. At other times, I incorporate the gilded and complex themes that are expressed in Indian artwork that I saw when I lived in Chennai. I feel that whether you live in the city or the country or a suburb that I make something just for you. And, if I haven’t listed something for you yet, please contact me! I love custom jewelry
requests.
My jewelry can be found online at www.sparklysoft.etsy.com/.
2. How did you get started with crafting and selling?
I began crafting before I can remember, before I realized that many people find creating something of their own daunting. My husband demonstrates this well as he jokes that given enough used match sticks, I could build a house. Much of what I know about crafting, I learned from my mother. She is an amazing DIY woman; she made blinds and drapes, reupholstered chairs, did electrical work, knit, and made many of my dress clothes when I was a kid, and she taught me a lot of these skills at a young age. I am still impressed by her creative genius and resourcefulness. If there's one lesson that she demonstrated more than anything else it's that there is no reason to fear a large project or a new medium. Only a handful of months ago, she joined my grandma (wonder where my mom learned what she knows) and began studying silversmithing. She's already has made a number of very cool pieces of jewelry.
3. What do you enjoy most about your craft?
I love that I get to wear what I make. If I were a chef, wearing what I make probably would not be this cool. I also love to see people enjoying and wearing my jewelry, and love that I can relax while I create.
It is also rewarding to see that my work has an impact on other people. A friend recently posted about a pair of earrings that I had made for her from a pair of enameled fish that I bought in Israel. It's a wild pair of earrings, big and colorful, and the fish are segmented so that they move. When I gave them to her (and she is not a particularly ostentatious person), I told her that she could only keep them if she promised to wear them. She tells a story about how she picks days that need a little extra spice to wear the earrings and dubs them Awesome Fish Earring Days.
4. Describe your creative process...what inspires you?
A lot of my inspiration comes from the materials with which I work. The stones are so lovely in
their own right that I'm often overwhelmed with design ideas. I find myself attracted to form and struc
ture, which has a tendency to appear in my earrings. I also draw inspiration from the people around me, their beauty, and the beauty of nature. I can barely contain myself now that the leaves are turning colors herein Chicago!
5. What other interests do you have?
As mentioned, I am dedicated to the violin. I love to play and perform, love to listen to music and learn about a piece, love seeing it develop as I learn it. I also teach and I’m finding it far more rewarding than I expected I would when I first began. It is remarkable to see young people learn something new and challenging and do it well.
Additionally, I organize a political action group of concerned citizens (me) that lobbies my husband to get a kitten. The cause has met staunch resistance to date.
6. What do you think of the handmade movement?
The handmade movement is wonderful. To an extent, I'm pleased because people are more and more interested in what I create, but also because the handmade movement fosters creativity that may have remained dormant for people otherwise. I know I’ve a lot
of friends who get interested in learning new things and finding trades that they are good at, where as previously, they may not have had that opportunity to explore themselves in that realm.
I’m pleased to see people moving towards owning something artistic, unique, high-quality and sustainable, rather than mass-produced. People are buying handmade both for aesthetic purposes and to know that real people are benefiting directly from their purchase, rather than large corporations. Plus, I find that the jewelry that I make far outlasts anything that I could find in a store for even twice the cost. Which, to me, says that we’re doing much better for ourselves and our world to buy quality, to buy from individuals, which reduces factory waste, and to buy those pieces that we’ll treasure our whole lives through, not just for a season or two.
7. Is there anything else you would like the public to know?
Do you really want to let me keep talking after all of this??? If I managed to leave any stone unturned, or if you’re interested in my jewelry, I can be contacted through my etsy site, or the blog that I dutifully neglect:
http://www.dornbrook.com/Blogs/Kristen/
Thank you for the interview and the opportunity to share some of
my thoughts with you!
Thanks for participating, Kristen! Good luck and God bless!
1 comment:
It's a wonderful collection of jewelry, very unique.
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