Today we’d like to introduce you to Karen Tinney.
Karen, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I went to school for product design at Parsons School of Design and was working as a home decor designer for approximately five years before I started to make the work that I do today. I was always really interested in working with fibers. I learned most of the fiber techniques that I used today when I was a teenager but started to combine them with ceramics many years later after taking a ceramics class which re-introduced me to the medium. For me, the two materials seemed to go so naturally together and it was a combination that I rarely saw in the home market at the time.
After working to develop my business for two years while still maintaining my full-time job, I decided to leave my corporate position and transition into business for myself. I’ve been working full time for myself for close to four years now, and it’s still one of the best and most liberating decisions that I’ve made.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
I have been fortunate that it has been a relatively smooth road so far. I’ve tried to let my business grow organically while keeping in mind my vision and long term goals for myself as an artist and designer. One of the biggest struggles I face is running the business entirely on my own – I handle all aspects of production, management, fulfillment, etc., so it can sometimes be difficult to manage my time and still find space to be creative.
We’d love to hear more about your work and what you are currently focused on. What else should we know?
I make decorative objects (vessels and vases) and wall sculptures using a combination of ceramics and fibers. My work is inspired by the properties of the materials that I use. Within my work the neither the ceramic nor the fiber exists alone; they rely on each other for structure and completeness. The fiber components finish where the ceramics leave off – either by completing the shape or acting as the physical connection between incomplete parts.
I specialize in a technique for the fiber work called coiling (it is an adaptation of a basketry technique), in which a thin thread is wrapped around a thicker core and stitched at regular intervals to create a three-dimensional shape. This technique can be seen on my vessels and some of my large wall pieces. I make each piece by hand start to finish in my Long Beach studio in addition to single-handedly running all aspects of the business.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
As a kid, my parents made a furniture business – a showroom on the ground floor and a workshop in the basement where my dad and grandpa made custom pieces. I spent a lot of time there running around with my sisters, lounging on the furniture upstairs or sneaking down into the basement to watch my dad work in the noise and dust.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.karentinney.com
- Instagram: @karengtinney
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