We had the good fortune of connecting with Katie Gong and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Katie, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
It kinda just happened. At the time I was working at Anthropologie as their senior display coordinator and I a few customers had approached me and asked if I would ever take on side projects or custom commissions. So while I still had a full time gig I took on some of these projects. Then slowly I started thinking about what it would look like to do my own thing. After doing a few I quit and took on kinda anything that came my way and quickly built it into proper business.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
My art is all about opportunity and creativity. I take a material that is hard and rigid and I transform it for a moment in time to be flexible and fluid. I uses steam to make wood malleable and a form to tie or bend these pieces into knots, braids, or squiggles.

It was not easy getting to where I am today. I held many jobs, that i’d work during the day and then go to the studio at night to work. I also took any and all jobs that I could get starting out which means a lot of things that seem a bit crazy now. Such as a huge conference table that i found slabs for that didn’t fit into my studio… Short answer was thank goodness I was working in a condemned building so we could just cut a hole in the floor to “lower” them into my studio (thank you to the 15 friends that helped my do this… you know who you are).

I learned alot of lessons from those early days. Biggest one is probably just not to be scared. Things can be crazy high stress but I have had to do so many projects that were at the time something I didn’t know how to do, or that i had never done before, that now I aint scared of nothing. So it’s great to throw yourself into the deep end… it’s how you learn and how you get more tools for your tool bag.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live up in the Sierra Foothills in a little gold mining town in Sutter Creek, CA. Let’s see my bud is in town…

Day 1: Break Even Beermakers in Amador City, CA https://breakevenbeermakers.com/
Day2: Hiking up hwy 88 at Salt Springs Reservoir with Burgers at Giant Burger
Day3: Swimming at the swimming hole at Tiger creek boat launch then Ice Cream at Munnerlyn ice cream in Pine Grove, CA
Day 4: Hanging on our farm, swimming in our cowboy trough hanging with the feral kids
Day 5: End of Nowhere, natural wine tasting and burgers/oysters in Amador City, CA https://www.endofnowhere.wine/
Day 6-7: Silver Lake, hwy 88 for fishing and camping

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
I met Aleksandra Zee in 2010 when we were working for Anthropologie, Inc. We worked well together and realized it was a special bond that we had, one that had no competition but only creativity. We left our jobs around the same time to pursue art and freelance and it was and still is such a pivotal relationship in that we encouraged each other along the way to discover our craft, process, and aesthetic. We also could share the burden of our studio expenses which were hefty when one is just getting started. But the biggest benefit was that we could feel free in our space. This came at a time when there wasn’t a lot of diversity in woodworking, and a ton of criticism and competition, we often felt under the microscope with anything we made. We were kinda the women lonerangers in the field. We blazed the trail together and felt free to experiment and try out new ideas which was incredibly freeing and not previant in many other relationships amongst other “woodworkers”. This relationship continues to be so valuable and incredibly special as we grow further into our craft and art. Those early days were so special and I often look back on them with incredible fondness.

Website: katiegong.com

Instagram: @katie.gong

Facebook: katie@katiegong.com

Youtube: www.youtube.com/@Katiegongart

Other: www.youtube.com/@FunnyGuyFarm for Farm videos 🙂

Image Credits
Brett Walker @brettmakesart https://brettwalker.photography/

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