Local Talent: Kate Fehr, Jewellery & Accessories Designer

Posted in Stories by Marina, August 25, 2010 at 3:35 pm | 772 views, 0 comments

Our local talent this week is a master of many crafts.

Kate Fehr, 23, “makes things” as she would put it, but more specifically, she creates stuffed animals, clothing accessories, jewellery, and more, mostly with a geeky twist.

Her ideas come from some of her favourite video games such as Team Fortress and she also bases a lot of her work on cryptozoology – legendary animals such as the yeti and jackalopes.

She says her favourite thing about what she does is the chance to be creative and make things that aren’t already out there.

“It’s just nice taking an idea of something that doesn’t really exist and see it actually come to life in some form that does exist in the real world,” she said.

Originally from Winnipeg, Fehr came to Calgary at a young age and later went to ACAD for a degree in jewellery and metals.

Of all her crafts she says that making jewellery is her favourite and she eventually wants to make a career in the industry.

“That’s the dream,” she said when talking about doing what she loves as her job.

However, for now she is content with spending her days sewing, since she doesn’t have a metal workshop to do any of her metal work.

Fehr likes to keep her work simple, saying, “the simpler it is the fewer things you can fuck up along the way,” however she does face the occasional challenge every now and then.

Her boyfriend of six years, Nigel Davis, can attest to this:

“I hear a lot of swearing during these projects,” he laughed, “I try to passively help in any way I can.”

Davis, 25, is a graduate from the visual communications design program at ACAD. He’s hoping to get a job as a video game concept artist on the west coast as Davis and Fehr are looking to move to Vancouver in the next few months.

Fehr does her crafts as a hobby, but does sell her products by word of mouth. She is currently working on Team Fortress props and weapons for herself and a few friends for PAX this year.

This will be Fehr’s and Davis’ third year going to PAX, the biggest public video game convention in North America, hosted in Seattle.

Together the couple spend a few hours a day playing video games, saying their current games include Borderlands and Red Dead Redemption.

Check back on Friday for a gallery of Kate Fehr’s creations and also some of Nigel Davis’ illustration work!