Meet Karen Ondracek

I do believe Forrest Gump's quote "Life is like a box of chocolate. You'll never know what you're gonna get".

What is the chance that I would meet a person who was brought up in WI and now live in CA, while me, spent my school days in CA and now live in WI? Even more... we both were born in October and we both are Etsian...

Please meet Karen Ondracek.
She grew up in Northern Wisconsin and was really involved in art making as a child. She took lots of art classes with wonderful teachers & did lots of great art projects with her family. She studied textiles at the Rhode Island School of Design & she is a textile designer by trade.

Of course, I would like to learn more about her... Here are our conversation:

Bigib: Why do you use the material you're using to express your creativity
Karen: Lately I’ve been interested in making collages and I’m always keeping an eye out for materials that I could use in a collage. I like using older papers, and I like incorporating non-paper items, such as wood veneer & leather in my work.

Bigib: What's new project you're working on, or anything coming up?
Karen: I’m currently working on a big project for my family.

Bigib: How is your design process.
Karen: I get a many of my ideas from the materials I’m using, accidental discoveries & the natural world.

Bigib: Do you innovate?
Karen:I think that lots of innovations are the result of accidents and trying new things. I really like the process of problem solving and discovery.

Bigib: What is your favorite items and a brief description about it.
Karen: I really like a new card that I just designed.


Just listed in my etsy shop. It’s bright and light yet bold at the same time.

To learn more about her pieces, you can visit http://karenondracek.etsy.com