Today we’d like to introduce you to Aspacia Kusulas.
Hi Aspacia, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My love for calligraphy and letters started since I was very young. I always was drawn to my mom’s and aunts’ cursive handwriting. Sadly, I never learned cursive at school, but I always drew letters, I was the girl who loved to draw and made posters for school or greeting cards for friends and drew their names.
In College, I had a calligraphy class and it was till much later that in Los Angeles I found my mentor DeAnn Singh and my calligraphy journey started. That led me to study type design in NY and decided to shift my graphic design career to a calligraphy and lettering journey. That also led me to co-found KOUS with my brother Rodolfo, KOUS specializes in honing calligraphy skills to create learning experiences, didactic materials and design unique and useful products to practice the art of calligraphy.
Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Like in anything else, there are always challenges. For me, my constant struggle is it to improve life-work balance. When you do the thing that you like the most and also is your job, there is a very faint line in between very easy to overlook. Sometimes is positive, and sometimes is exhausting and the challenge is for me to draw those lines more clearly.
Appreciate you sharing that. What should we know about KOUS?
We love to share knowledge and to make our best effort to preserve the art of calligraphy. A skill that is getting lost slowly and we want to continue with this beautiful tradition that has been around for hundreds of years. Nowadays, with fast pace lifestyles and digital technologies we hardly write with a pen and paper, let alone practice calligraphy. However, calligraphy can give us much more than beautiful letters. Writing calligraphy is mentally stimulating; by practicing, it forms neuronal connections that we are not able to experience by typing and texting. It helps us to organize our thoughts, study, memorize information, and develop further motor skills among others.
Furthermore, we have realized this skill has had a deeper impact in many of our students. It goes further than to teach them the right foundations of calligraphy, we see our students explore their passions, start their own businesses and even see calligraphy impact their lives in such a positive way in regards to their mental health. They use calligraphy as meditation, to fight depression and anxiety, and even as a way to relaxation and meditation.
So, before we go, how can our readers or others connect or collaborate with you? How can they support you?
We love collaborations and interesting projects. Calligraphy can be present in many ways and in different spaces. From fashion to education, As an artistic expression, educational or meditative tool. We would love to collaborate and work together with people who can enrich and benefit equally. We love to expand calligraphy to places that we have never imagined. Live spot calligraphy, special workshops for companies or private events, custom art pieces, calligraphy for mental health, murals, developing new calligraphy tools, and the list goes on.
We are always open to any job or collaboration proposal that aligns with our values prevailing our love for letters.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://en.designkous.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/designkous
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/designkous
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/designkous/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/designkous
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@kousworkshops5350
- Other: https://www.tiktok.com/@designkous
Image Credits
Rodolfo Kusulas
