Hello again!!
So my name is Karen but most people call me K and that is how I will reference myself on this site. I have always been interested in design and product design and have been involved in a variety of ways over the years. One of my first ventures in this area was a business I started called The Paper House Boutique in which I designed a large variety of marketing products for the real estate professional. Some of the notecards I designed are still floating around today.
I then spent four years living in Mexico and then Australia where I studied the art of lampworking mostly from watching martini stick makers on the streets of Tonala, Mx!!! During this time I briefly opened my first Etsy shop when its business model was clearly focused on American “handmade only” artisans. Shop owners had to literally make the products they featured in their shops!! During this early period searching for quality products on Etsy was relatively quick and efficient!! And I should also add that my design aesthetic and obsession with handcrafted excellence was greatly influenced by my years living in both Mexico and Australia!!!
When we moved back to the states I used these experiences to start my first blog which was simply called K Style. In many ways it was a precursor to my current project. For years I blogged daily about design and featured many talented and unique artisans on this site. This was back in the day when blogs were a relatively new concept and well we had no idea how to monetize or go forward!!!
Most recently I opened an Etsy Shop called K Style Design. I designed, made and marketed a line of high end linens which now grace the tables of many throughout the world. I did this for approximately 7 yrs and became very immersed in the Etsy experience and the fantastic artisans that live on this site.
So here we are today and my creative energy has led me down this current path!!!! I see a need to create a space where design enthusiasts and professionals can more easily access the handmade, the quality and the unique products which I know they seek. Etsy has become so gigantic ( over 2 million shops) with its expansion into a worldwide market and the addition of its vintage category that it has become a time consuming and to be a honest frustrating experience to get to “the good stuff”.
So that takes me to how I approach this giant but inspiring task and how my own personal aesthetic informs my choices!! But let me just say that I appreciate and love many aesthetics. I am all about interior design that is personal and reflective of the people who live in their spaces. With that being said I like design that is clean, layered and unique with a dose of the unexpected
. And finally along with vintage and antique pieces I believe handcrafted pieces where you can see the human hand literally represented is what adds “soul” to a space and this is why I am so excited to go on this journey with my new project Shops Du Jour!!! I am on a mission to make quality artisans more visible to the design community in the hopes that by valuing their incredible contribution to truly bespoke design we can keep them supported into the future!!
So thanks for tuning in and chat soon, k
Site Design & Logo designed by K