Where Creativity Blossoms: An Interview with Kate from digibling

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

An Interview with Kate from digibling

5:04 PM |

I first discovered digibling's shop when I was looking for another little Christmas gift for my brother. My brother is a computer NERD! (Sorry Brian, but it's true) and I ended up getting him MICROCHIP CUFFLINKS (I know, how perfect is that for a computer nerd?)! Of course, he loved them and now everyone at his work is jealous (at least I like to think that's how it goes). Anyway, Kate makes a lot of fun jewelry out of electronic components...you MUST check out a shop if you are a nerd yourself, you happen to love a Nerd, or if you just want some super cool jewelry that just happens to be made from a computer!

Tell me a little bit about your background in arts and crafts/ When did you first start creating things?/ What were the first type of crafts you made?

I’ve always been one to create. As far back as I can remember, my mom always kept me busy with lots of arts and crafts projects. I mostly stuck to traditional crafts defined by sections in the craft store. But by middle school, the pipe cleaners and Popsicle sticks turned into science fair projects, and my creations turned less 'arts and crafts' and more industrial. While in college, my hobby was computer case 'modding.' I built from scratch a computer tower with an aquarium inside, which won a contest and was featured in Maximum PC magazine in 2003 (available in pdf archives, pp35-27, http://dl.maximumpc.com/Archives/MPC1203-web.pdf). I mention this because I feel this project really embodies everything I love about design and creating functional art. From a little idea, came tons of sketches, research, experimenting with materials and construction methods, and actually building! I think taking something out of it's usual context is fun and a large part of the appeal in the aquarium computer as well as digibling.

Is this your only business or do you do other things as well?

I have a day job as a pneumatic conveying development engineer. Basically, I design systems that blow dirt through pipes. I started digibling mainly for fun and the challenge of seeing how well I could do. While it's been successful and I'm excited to further the business, I don't plan on making it my full time job.

Do you still dream about making other things? If so, what?

I have a sketchbook full of design ideas – from furniture to clothing (even though I can’t sew!) to solar heating systems. I really devoted a lot of time to digibling this past year, and one of my goals for 2009 is to make time for other artistic endeavors.

How did you hear about Etsy?

The first digibling I made was a pair of earrings I fashioned out of some resistors I had flying around at home. I wore them to work, and several people suggested I try selling them. I recalled a family friend having an online store for her jewelry (cindyart98.etsy.com), though I really didn't know what Etsy was at that point. I explored the site a little bit, signed up and started my shop almost immediately.

Any words of advice to others?

For Etsy sellers, I think it's important to consider your motivations and goals. Keeping that in mind will help you focus and keep things in perspective.

I hope you all enjoyed meeting Kate from Digibling as much as I did. Make sure to check out her shop to see all the amazing things she creates!