Creative Spaces 13 -Kristen Couse

Tell us about what we see in your photos.

My studio is located in the garden level, or first floor, of our row house. Its main components are:

My new cutting table, which is a great old drafting table that I got from a family in our neighborhood who were giving it away. I’m still pretty proud, a month later, that I managed to figure out how to put it together without having to call them back. It’s got two big drawers underneath—one holds all of my measuring implements and trusty rotary cutter, and the other holds thread, a roll of fusible interfacing for appliqués, and a box of my tags/business cards/Etsy cards.

My screenprinting table, which used to double as my cutting table. It’s really a folding plastic table (originally purchased for our backyard pig roast last summer!), tricked out with a wooden top that I screwed my hinge clamps into, and wooden risers under the legs to save me from massive chiropractor bills.

My burly, ancient ironing board, found on Freecycle.com, which holds the trusty iron that I’ve had since high school.

My sewing table, home to my 1965 White sewing machine, which I bought on Ebay after cashing in some of my childhood savings bonds. The kitties who watch over me as I work perch above the sewing machine, and my supply jars—the scissors and other cutters in an old marmalade jar, pens and pencils in an old mustard jar, and small implements in a vintage espresso cup—live next to it.

The fantastic wooden cabinet that I rescued from my husband’s grandfather’s attic. I keep my finished goods in the drawers, and my inks, some of my fabric, and shipping envelopes in the cabinet part. The rest of my fabric is kept in the Elfa drawers that sit atop the cabinet, which my friend Mona gave to me when she was cleaning out her apartment.

And the extension of my studio is our backyard, where I line dry all of my fabrics after washing.

What do you create in your space?

I make napkins and coasters out of repurposed fabric. I mostly use secondhand bedding (sheets, pillowcases, bedspreads), though I have found some wonderful old housecoats as well…. I look for anything with an appealing pattern with a vintage feel (whether that be vintage 60s or vintage 80s ). I screenprint each item with one of my original drawings. Right now my motifs are foxes, cats, and llamas. I also just started a monogram line, in which I will print one or two (or more, if you want!) hand-drawn letters on to the goods.

What advice do you have for others who are trying to put together their own creative space?

Don’t expect it to ever be perfect! Mine is definitely a work in progress, and I think I will always be tweaking it. And try to set it up somewhere with as much natural light as possible, it has so many advantages: Lets you see true colors, makes for great photographs of your work, and keeps you happy in the winter…. Also, always be on the lookout for free furniture and equipment! Freecycle.com and the “Free” section (under the “For sale” header) on Craigslist.com are great resources, as are relatives or friends who are cleaning out their houses or redecorating, and the sidewalks on large-item trash days… It makes me really happy to know that 90% of the things in my studio are secondhand, and at least 50% of them were free.

How does being in your creative space make you feel?

I feel really proud of being able to put my own creative business together. It’s been a really long road for me to get here. And granted I’m just starting out, and who knows how long I will be able to maintain it, but at this moment anything is possible and it feels awesome.

What has your biggest challenge been in creating and maintaining your creative space?

Keeping the cats out.

What is your favorite quote?

“Dreyfus once wrote from Devil’s Island that he would see the most glorious birds. Many years later in Brittany he realized they had only been seagulls…. For me they will always be glorious birds.” – Harold and Maude

What do you do when you’re NOT creating?

My other job is full-time mama to my 3-1/2 year old, Wile Taylor, seen here enjoying his favorite food, sushi.

He, my husband Stephen, and our cats Truck and Lulu and I live in the Clinton Hill/Bed-Stuy area of Brooklyn, NY. In my early 20s I spent five years as an editor at a small publishing house in Manhattan, which was not a career that I had aspired to, and eventually became one that I really didn’t enjoy. So I got out of that and started studying textile design at FIT (the Fashion Institute of Technology, in Manhattan.) Six months before graduation, I found myself unexpectedly pregnant! So after I finished school, I spent a few years at home with the little man. But this fall he started preschool, and I started Cakehouse. I love to cook (I was briefly an apprentice chef before I was an editor), shop at the farmer’s market, listen to music, peruse thrift stores, go dancing with my girlfriends, watch Project Runway and Friday Night Lights, read the New Yorker, and root for the New York Mets.

What one piece of furniture or organizational equipment could you not live without?

My darling MacBook. It’s my file cabinet, notepad, photo studio, research library, communications hub, and entertainment center when I need a break.

What is your next “move” for your creative space? Do you have plans for its future?

Sometime in the next 2 or 3 years we are going to do a major renovation (and reorganization) of our 100-year old house. And when that happens, I will be able to move some of the non-Cakehouse items out of the room, like the bookshelves, and the two enormous towers of shelves full of albums (record, not photo)…. I am fine with the fact that as long as my studio is in our house, I will share my space with our home office space, so there will always be filing cabinets and a desk and our home computer somewhere in my office. That to me is a totally reasonable trade-off to being able to work from home. But I’m looking forward to having some things take their leave after the renovation, which will give me room to stretch out a little bit.

Do you have a website we could visit?

I have three homes on line: The Cakehouse website, which has all the info about what I do, why I do it, how I do it, and where to buy it. My blog, where I post about some business stuff and some personal (though not too personal…) stuff. And my etsy shop, which is currently the only place to buy Cakehouse goods.

See more photos of Kristen’s creative space.

I am happy to offer a 10% discount to Joyful Abode readers. Simply don’t pay when you checkout at etsy—instead, email me letting me know that you found me through Joyful Abode, and letting me know how you’re going to pay (Paypal or check/money order), and I will send you an invoice with the 10% discount factored in.

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