Tuesday, August 23, 2011

Visit Kat of StudioKat Designs

StudioKat DesignsKathy “Kat” Southern started StudioKat Designs seven years ago but kept her day job with the city for another 18 months until eventually “retiring” with 29 years of government service and 4 patterns on the market. She now has 22 handbag patterns and 2 purse insert patterns.

Originally from Connecticut, Kat spends most days at home in Winston-Salem, N.C. designing, writing her newsletter, blogging, packing patterns, handling correspondence, etc. Because her studio is in her home, she finds it difficult to NOT work.  She relaxes by traveling with her husband. and specially loves collegiate sports and visiting her grandson in Charlotte. And as if she wasn’t doing enough, she plays the clarinet in her church orchestra.

StudioKat Designs’ detailed patterns produce functional handbags which address the basic daily needs of women like herself. Kat’s bags are designed around what she likes and what makes the components work together.  She says, “A well-designed pattern is just a fancy jigsaw puzzle and I find the process of getting the pieces to fall into place incredibly stimulating and fun.  The more difficult the design problem, the more satisfying it is when the problem is solved.”

Kat continued, “I really love it when folks send me pictures of the bags they make from our patterns. I get a real kick out of seeing how our customers express their individuality & creativity through our patterns. The only thing that would be even more fun, would be being able to hear the compliments they get from friends and family when  they carry these bags. That would be the icing on the cake!”

Presently, she’s in the process of finishing a  new pattern for fall and chronicling the process on her blog. StudioKat is venturing into the notions business with the addition of two items to their product line; a brand new invisible sew-in magnetic snap perfect for handbags and black & white striped zippers in six different sizes.  They will be ready for release in September. Kat doesn’t play favorites with her family of bags, “ My favorite bag is pretty much always the one I am working on right now.” Why not visit Kat and her bags at studiokatdesigns.com or her blog studiokatdesigns.blogspot.com.
and on Facebook - StudioKatDesigns and Twitter- StudioKat.