Today we’d like to introduce you to Kate Teves.
Kate, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
My husband Christoph and I moved to Florida in 2015 following some brutal winters in New York City. It took me a little bit of time to find my professional footing here, and I found myself turning to the thing that had always rescued me in the past: creativity. This time, instead of writing, I found myself drawing.
This was strange for me! I had always envied artists because I had no artistic ability. But suddenly, I was filled with a kind of a compulsion! I started drawing a little bit every day. I watched videos and hung out at art stores to learn about inks and papers and paints. Eventually, I was drawing these little guys I called “squirbles.” That’s when Christoph and I put together our first children’s book, “Meet The Squirbles.”
Around this time, we both started teaching children at local non-profit organizations in Delray Beach, and we became certified guardians ad litem to help children in the foster care system. We realized we really enjoy making stuff for children.
We launched our website Papery in Summer 2019. It is our baby (we don’t have any real babies of our own) and we love the little bugger.
We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc. – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
A writing life is a terrible, bumpy, miserable road. If I could do anything else, I would. But I can’t, so I’m left with two pals by my side at all times: the devil of angst and the angel of freedom.
We’d love to hear more about your work.
Papery is a site dedicated to creative ideas for kids. We have free printables, projects, ideas, and more. The site is in its infancy but we love it!
We strive hard to respect the emotional intelligence of kids because we believe in their amazing ability to process difficult, contradictory ideas and emotions. We feel a lot of stuff marketed to kids is really condescending and limiting. So we try to create things that allow kids to explore lots of different emotions in lots of different ways.
So, what’s next? Any big plans?
We are working on two new children’s books for 2020. We also have a bunch of free downloads we’ll launch before the end of the year. And a big goal is to start branching into video. Stay tuned!
Contact Info:
- Address: 455 NE 6th Avenue Suite D354
Delray Beach, FL 33483 - Website: www.hellopapery.com
- Phone: 561-404-5417
- Email: kate@hellopapery.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hellopapery/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/hellopapery/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/hellopapery
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