Who is Karen from Mon petit bazar?
This month, we're honored to have an exclusive interview with Karen from Mon petit bazar! Following the release of her new glass bead kit"Cocktail Miyuki by Mon petit bazar" in collaboration with Perles&Co, discover her world, her tips and her addiction!
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Can you tell us more about yourself?
- Karen, from Mon petit Bazar:
I'm based in the Toulouse region with my four males (two boys, a husband and a rabbit), a freelance engineer in project management.
What's your creative background?
- I don't really think of myself as a designer (I'm more of a "tinkerer"), so it's hard to pinpoint a career path... I've been tinkering since I was a little girl, with scraps of fabric (I used to make dresses for my Barbies out of handkerchiefs). (I used to make dresses for my Barbies out of knotted fabric handkerchiefs), bits of wool, then pastels, watercolours, oils (I've always loved drawing), mosaics, jewelry, sewing, knitting, cosmetics... don't we agree?? it's not a journey, but a labyrinth!
What do you like best of all?
- My Papi's paella! But I don't think that was the point of the question.
I like to start with small, isolated bricks, put them together and end up with a useful finished product. Whatever the field.
I also love discovering new disciplines, meeting new people and exchanging ideas (I can't stop a conversation?!).
I'm very lucky in that, most of the time, my job allows me to do this during the day, and once night has fallen and everyone's gone to bed, creative hobbies take over again!
What would you take with you to a desert island to keep you from getting bored?
- It depends...
If it's for a week, sun cream, a sarong and enough to make me some good cocktails (with my toes in a fan, I hope the desert island water you've planned for me is good...). Beyond 10 days: fiber or a 4G connection, just to get back to civilization!
What do you have a totally insane and disproportionate addiction to, but one that's fully assumed?
- In fact, in my line of work, announcing that I weave beads is tantamount to a direct invitation to a famous matchmakers' dinner party (especially when I'm asked for the details and feel obliged to show photos, detail the number of beads and colors used...); but I assume!
What is your proudest creation?
- There's no one in particular... I think it's all the ones people ask me where I bought them.
What's your favorite creative technique?
- I like the ones you don't need to set up (so you can do them on the beach, in front of the TV, during a lunch break...): weaving a peyote bracelet, crocheting a top or knitting a top-down cardigan. In short, nomadic projects that I can take with me wherever I go!
What's your favorite Miyuki color palette?
- First of all, neutral colors: gold, black and light beige... these are the ones I use the most (especially gold and beige).
Then, even if I like the whole "Luminous" range for summer (combining Neon yellow and khaki or poppy red and grey), I have a weakness for green/blue colors with, as my favorite color, DB1172 - GALVANIZED MAT DARK AQUA.
What's the one tool you can't live without?
- Does the smartphone count?.. and we're off to the desert island again...
Otherwise, I hesitate...
First, there's the pair of good scissors (actually, several pairs of good scissors, because the pair for fabric isn't the same as the pair for paper, which isn't the same as the one I use to cut a weaving thread right at the edge... well, without exaggerating, I must have about fifteen pairs in the house).
And then there's the tape measure (well, 'the meters', spread all over the house, but which I spend my life looking for): the length of a skirt, the size of a bracelet, the height of a sleeve, it's indispensable!
What's your little secret trick?
- I don't think I have any secret manufacturing tricks, because I share everything with those who ask me or in tutorials... however, my little daily trick is to write down ideas as they come to me, in a little notebook (well, ok, several little notebooks scattered all over the place.... it's like my sewing metres): even if they don't all come to fruition, they're noted down, and it's nice sometimes to come back to them to follow them up or not, depending on the mood.
What's your favorite source of inspiration?
- I find that everything is a source of inspiration: the color of a wall, how you feel looking at a landscape, children's drawings, a piece of tile...
What's your favorite proverb or saying?
- Where there's a will, there's a way!
But you have to know yourself, accept your limits and know how to surround yourself with the right people... in fact, I think my exact saying would be: when you want, you can, but the more the merrier!
Any current projects?
- There's always a lot going on at the same time... First of all, my current professional project, which is very interesting, unifying and creative, and which should come to fruition at the end of the year, takes up a lot of my time. In parallel, I always have a knitting project in progress (I'm currently finishing a summer "We are knitters" kit before moving on to a winter kit), sewing galore (I found the pattern for my ideal dress at Aime Comme Marie and I want to make it again for every day of the week!) and of course, beads, beads and beads (my vacations are coming up and my wrists have nothing to wear, so I'm going to have to get busy)!
Do you have any advice for beginners? What's the one mistake not to make?
- In my opinion, any mistake is a good one: once you know it, you can avoid it!
My advice would be not to hesitate to talk to other people, both enthusiasts and beginners, to benefit from each other's feedback. We're lucky to have the Internet in our lives, so we don't have to ask ourselves any more questions, so we might as well make the most of it!
Perles & Co and you...
- It's a very long story and certainly my first purchases on the net: with Nathalie, a colleague turned friend, we used to make group orders of leather ribbons, PureCrystal beads, and silver charms to make little multi-row bracelets (I'm talking about a time when I had a hotmail address) ... Nathalie has stopped making (which is fine with me, as it means more gift ideas for her), but for my part, I've never been able to take my finger out of the gears, and I find it very practical to be able to find everything (beads, liberty bias, fabric coupons....) and to have my orders quickly in the mailbox, as I don't necessarily have the time to run to the stores!
Thanks to Karen from Mon petit bazar, for answering our questions.
July 2018
