Meet the maker – Kreativa Karin

Swedens queen of kawaii, Kreativa Karin, makes cute colorful crafts. Karin is known for her pastel color palette and her way of making everything cute. She definitely makes the world a prettier place. We are suckers for her creations and wanted to know what inspires her and if she has any tips to share. Here is our Meet the maker-interview with Karin. Enjoy!

Who are you? Tell us a bit more about yourself

My name is Karin Andersson, I’m 40 years old and live on Hisingen in Gothenburg. I work in my studio, which is in a basement close to my home. I travel quite a lot around Sweden and arrange workshops together with IKEA, Barncancerfonden, houses of culture and libraries. I also put some of my time on planning, purchases, and administration. But most of all I want to spend time in my studio, creating while listening to a thrilling podcast.

How did you come to the creative place you are at today, what's your creative background?

I’ve always loved to create and being creative. I dreamed of going to art school, Konstfack in Stockholm. After high school, I applied to a preparatory course in Gävle but didn’t get accepted. By that time I lost my drive to pursue art school and moved to London, and after that Gothenburg. I worked in hotels and restaurants until I gave birth to my daughter in 2010. And by then I felt the need for a change of directions in my life, like so many other new moms. I took graphic design classes and got a diploma in visual merchandising. During my studies, I started an Instagram account and worked extra as a salesperson at IKEA. My goal was to get a job as an interior decorator and after six months at IKEA I couldn’t keep up with all the inquiries from Instagram. So I quit my job and started to work full time as a professional maker.

What do you try to achieve with the work you create?

To make people want to create! The best compliment I can get is that someone has been inspired to start making after seeing my creations.

I want to inspire parents and kids to make together.

Kreativa Karin, what’s the story behind the name?

When I started my Instagram account I wanted to have an easy and personal name. I thought a lot about building my personal brand from the start. I wanted people to get what I’m doing just by reading the brand name. Kreativa Karin just fit! I’m very particular with whom I collaborate. I’ve strong political views but don’t talk much about them in social media. I want to be personal but not private in my social media channel.

I believe that you have to be personal to create a successful personal brand.

Even if it’s a bit uncomfortable in the beginning you need to share your personal views. Your followers want to connect with you! People often stop me when I’m in the city and say the nicest things to me. Even if it makes me a bit awkward it really makes my whole day. It warms my heart.

How do you get in the right “creative mode” – what does your happy place look like?

I love hanging out in my studio. Most days I ride my bike there after I followed my daughter to school at 8:00. I put on some music and start the project of the day. I like to do several projects at the same time since there are drying times and other things to take into account. I’ve to-do-lists for the week on what to purchase, create, photograph, etc. I often look for inspiration on my mobile phone during the evening. I take lots of print screens and make notes on my phone when I get ideas or find things I want to try. Sometimes I take those ideas and use them in collaborations with companies.

What does your craft space look like?

Most people describe my studio as a colorful candy store for makers. I have a big table that seats eight people, which I use all the time. I’ve got a bar counter where I film my videos and bigger projects. The walls are covered with shelves and everything is sorted by color and type of material. I have so much material, both new and recycled. I have a comfy sofa that I use for rest and when working on social media. My studio is in a basement but has fairly good daylight, a small kitchen, and a toilet. Most of the 70 square meters are a big room where I go wild with my sewing machines, glue guns, paint, and scissors.

If I would like to get going with my creativity, what’s your advice?

Find inspiration! We all need inspiration. Try different materials and techniques and see what you like. Invest in good tools, like really sharp scissors, a glue gun and spray paint in your favorite colors.

Please share your top sources of inspiration

1. Pinterest is where I search for different materials. There is so many beautiful pictures and ideas.

2. Fashion and clothes inspire me a lot. They are faster on new trends, then the interior design field.

3. I use a color or a shape of something as a starting point when I develop my ideas. I do love patterns, especially graphical.

What do you have planned for the future?

I do a lot of workshops during the spring and continue after summer. It’s fun to meet the children and the workshops are usually appreciated. I work a lot with the toy company Micki leksaker and I have several fun projects and products coming up. For example for Lundby dollhouses. I really want to develop the design and product development side of my business. I have big goals for that!

Do you, as we do, love Karin’s esthetics go in and follow her on

Instagram: Kreativakarin

Youtube: Kreativa Karin, or at her website kreativakarin.com.

Thanks for the interview, Karin! Good luck with your big plans for the future. We’re looking forward to following you and see what you come up with.

Meet the maker - Katia Colt

Ceramics is a fascinating field. To be a craftsman in ceramics takes time, effort and patience and it’s one of those crafts where you must wait quite a long time to see the result.  Katia Colt wants to "convey the roots of the Swedish traditional craftsmanship", and we met up with the maker Katia Colt to find out more about her colourful creations.

Tell us about yourself, who are you and what you do?

My name is Katia Colt. I am a craftsman and have my business in Gustavsberg outside Stockholm. I’m 43 years old and have two children, 18 and 3 years old. I got my interest in crafts from my mother who worked as an offset printer for many years but who later started a small factory that manufactures natural cosmetics. I probably got my eyes on the craft and its importance early on, and the fact that it feels good working with my hands. I feel grateful that I can work with what I like the most.

How did you get to the creative place you are in today? What is your creative background?

When I went to high school I decided to find an education in crafts. I found a 2-year program where you had to practice with a potter 3 days a week. I only made it through the first year because I was an incredibly disorganized and restless person. After that, I went on to do craft training at the upper secondary level. When I got my first child, I started a three-year ceramics training at Formakademin in Lidköping and I later went on to study at Konstfack in Stockholm for 3 years.

For the past 10 years, I have had my own studio at Gustavsberg's old porcelain factory, where I am a member of the Ateljéföreningen G-studion which is Sweden's largest studio association with about 100 members.

What are you trying to achieve with the work you create?

I work in different ways depending on what I want to produce. If I want an exhibition, for example, I use techniques that require more time and mental presence. It’s a kind of recovery or self-therapy. It can feel like some kind of mathematical calculation I'm dealing with through an idiom. That the different directions and shapes of each other must match. Like sudoku. With the difference, that I can't handle sudoku.

When I work with clay, I have direct contact with my thoughts and feelings which is very nice. My way of working then becomes very intuitive.

What is the story behind your brand, Katia Colt, and style?

With my production of objects of everyday use, I want to convey the roots of the Swedish traditional craftsmanship.

How do you get in the right creative mode? What does your happy place look like?

I need to be disciplined and structured and to have a clean studio before I can begin working. This is not an easy task since I’m not like that from the beginning. I have been working hard with myself to be as structured as possible. It may sound boring, but that's how I get more work done.

What does your craft space look like?

My studio is divided into different stations. I have a plaster workspace with plaster turns where I manufacture originals and molds for some of my products. A casting table where I make the objects in clay. Then I have the turntable and work table for office work and other things. Since all this will fit 25 sqm, of course, many areas flow together with each other.

Tell us your advice to someone who wants to continue their creative pursuits?

My advice is to let yourself fail a lot. You can also ask someone who's work you admire, for feedback. It’s always good to hear constructive criticism. Go to art exhibitions, nurture yourself totally in what you do or what interests you.

And don't forget to have fun!

Please share your best sources of inspiration

Nature, politics, religion, history, and ceramics of all kinds.

What do you have planned for the future?

I will have an exhibition this summer at Skulpturfabriken in Gotland 14 July – 3 August.

Where can I  find your work?

You can follow me on Instagram @katiascolt, my website and on Kaolin, Hornsgatan 50 in Stockholm.

Thanks, Katia for the interview and the insights in your creative process. We need to come to visit you at Open studios at G-studion some time.

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Meet the maker - Ovrebruket

We met Sanna Nilsson from Ovrebruket the first time at Formex, the Swedish design fair in Stockholm, where she had a booth with her lovely jewelry. The ideas are humorous and have a message beyond what you see at first glance. We asked her a few questions about her work and art.

Tell us a bit about yourself

I've always loved to create. As a child, I drew and painted almost every day. My parents were painting and exhibiting nature paintings in watercolor so creating was a part of the ordinary life at home. I also loved small details and I worked a lot with clay and made jewelry of that mixed with pearls. When I was 16, I participated in an art exchange with young people from the north of Russia. That exchange gave me a lot and it was interesting to meet people of my own age through art.

Art and design leads you to a lot of special meetings with other people, and it gives you a chance to come closer to each other and listen to thoughts and fantasies in close-up. It’s truly unique, and something I really like.

I studied art at high school and after that half a year of art history, and then one year in an art school called Gerlesborg in Bohuslän. In the summer of 2014, I went to Denmark and participated in a short course of jewelry design. It was great and after that, I started to work more and more with jewelry which leads to starting my company Ovrebruket. I participated in fairs and markets and realized that I could sell my jewelry in another way than art at an exhibition. It was much easier. Meeting people at the markets were also really inspiring.

But I haven't abandoned the art and ink drawings yet, I have exhibitions a couple of times each year. When I create my ink drawings, I have a strong feeling or memory that I must express. Drawing is dear to me. Creating jewelry is more of interesting research where I try to transform the value and all the details of nature.

I am comfortable working with both art and design. I've never liked to put different expressions in different categories. The important thing is that the force of expression has a big space to fill.

How is it to be an artist in Umeå?

Since I work both with design and art, which is two different worlds, it gives me a bigger area to show my work. I haven't got a degree in higher studies of art or design so I don't have the key to the more famous arenas for art and design. I like to work alone so my contact with the galleries and art- and design institutions aren't so frequent. If I see a chance to exhibit, I take it. Small or big doesn't matter. When you live in a pretty small place you have to act like that to survive, just say yes to all the opportunities.

What do you try to achieve with the work you create?

I want people to take the time to look at them and start to think about the value of nature. We are living in a stressful society and time to reflect and really look into details doesn´t have a big area. I also draw detailed ink drawings.

How come Ovrebruket, what´s the story behind?

I and my partner live there in a small cottage in Övre Bruket that I inherited from my grandfather. I took that name and transformed it into Ovrebruket, which became the name of my company.

How do you get in the right “creative mode” – what does your happy place look like?

When I'm free to do whatever I want, have a lot of materials, time and no one who disturbs my mind. My process is always a bit chaotic and I never know exactly where I'm going.

It's interesting and frightening at the same time. But I love the chaos of creativity where anything can happen.

What does your craft space look like?

I have a good workshop where I live. It is not so clean and tidy so you can just go crazy with your creativity.

If I would like to get going with my creativity, what's your advice?

Don't be afraid to test new technics. Just start the adventure, mix and match materials and go with the flow.

Please share your top sources of inspiration

People who live outside “the box”. For example, the artists Yayoi Kusama, Olafur Eliasson and the poet Kristina Lugn.

Sometimes I can hear a special meaning on the radio or something that someone just saying and then create it to a piece of art. I talked with my dad last winter and he told me that if it´s really cold outside you can always hide in an ant’s nest. That sounded so crazy and then I created an ink drawing of the phrase. I called it “The society”.

What are your plans for the future?

Just continue working with my jewelry and drawings. My goal is to create jewelry and art from all the plants and animals in the whole world. I know that it is impossible but it´s a good goal anyway.

I want to make jewelry from the plants and animals that aren't so popular but are important in the ecosystem. I think they are like “underdogs”. I have already made wasp nests, ant nests, and bats.

Do you, like us, like Ovrebrukets work you'll find her on ovrebruket.com and on Instagram as ovrebrukets.

Thanks for the interview, Sanna. We keep following you and are curious to see what animal you make art of next.

Photos: Wasp's nest: Lars-Eric Fjellvind All other photos: Sanna Nilsson.

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