When you step into Kristen’s house, it is difficult to escape the fact that this is truly an artist’s home. With pristine white walls and beautiful pieces of her own artwork all around the house, the beauty of her home décor was an obvious reflection of her inability to resist using her creative talents in every detail of her life.
A speech therapist by profession and an artist by passion, Kristen (better known as @kristenkiong on Instagram) is one dreamer who knows how to turn her passions into reality. As a creative who is as spontaneous as she is adventurous, Kristen chose on a whim to begin a #100calligraphydays project that eventually turned into a talent for hand lettering and watercolour painting. Here’s her story!
Hi Kristen! You’re a co-founder of KEJJ. What does KEJJ stand for and how did it begin?
KEJJ is the initials of the four of us who founded the company — Kristen, Ern, Janna, Joel. Janna, Joel, and I were church mates, and I got to know Ern through a mutual friend! We met for brunch and it felt like a blind date, but we got along really well. We were all doing our own crafts and attracting people to our Instagram accounts for sales. I knew I couldn’t manage a site alone, so I gathered these people to ask if they would like to pull our forces together.
To be honest it wasn’t easy. We thought four part-timers would equal one or two full-timers, and perhaps we’d have a surplus of products right? No. It’s easy to keep saying you’d do it ‘tomorrow’. For the first two years of KEJJ we were actually quite stagnant for most of the year, and then we’d pop up with a Christmas flea or something. That, unfortunately, meant building our follower-base from zero each time. It’s still exhausting, but I’ve made a conscious resolution to keep pushing myself to contribute stuff to KEJJ if I want this to work.
What's most unique about KEJJ?
Our faith. When we think of KEJJ, we think about us creating (our craft), and the creation story (Genesis), which has formed the basis for the themes we began with — floral, galaxy and sea.
What's the most exciting thing KEJJ has done?
We’ve had a few charity projects but I think the most exciting thing we did as a full team was the Christmas Public Garden in 2015. Who knew running a flea was so difficult? We learnt a lot about store layouts, marketing, and running on overdrive without sleep. I think through the excitement, it dawned on me how amazing God is to have planned ahead of us and brought together four individuals of completely different skills aside from crafting: the photographer (Kristen), the creative director (Ern), the visionary (Janna) and the accountant (Joel) — skills we all had before KEJJ was founded.
DARE TO TRY AND DON'T BE AFRAID TO FAIL
How did you get started doing hand lettering, water colouring, and drawing?
I started drawing when I was a kid; Mum said it was the only thing that could keep me busy whilst she listened to the church sermons. I picked up hand lettering towards the end of my Speech Therapy post-graduate studies just as a personal project. I told myself, “If they can do it, I can too” and made myself practise with #100calligraphydays. I decided the end goal would then be to write my own wedding invites. Logically, the first word I should try to write would be my name, because (1) I’ve written it all my life and should be familiar with it; and (2) I’ll need my name in my wedding invites. It was only when my early clients started enquiring if I did commissions that I realised this “thing” could actually earn me some pocket money.
Since hand lettering and water colouring are extremely popular now, how do you stay relevant in the industry?
This is a tricky one, and I’ve been thinking about it. I think what sets me apart is that I do custom works of Bible verses with unique illustrations — people often order those for their houses. I also always make sure I suggest the most cost-effective and functional works that can be used in different settings, as well as provide holistic and practical advice to make sure that my artwork doesn’t just look good on its own, but where it’s supposed to be placed in their houses/wedding venues.
What will KEJJ be like in the next 5 years?
I am unfortunately, not the visionary of the team, but we’ve had talk about having more artists on board of KEJJ. We also have been looking at doing more charity work — something we’d need more manpower for.
There is a common belief that those who are “artistic” are naturally blessed with these talents. Do you agree?
I think a talent might put someone at an advantage at baseline before practise. But the practise plays a big role. Unfortunately I think many people write themselves off as having no talent before even trying, and that sometimes frustrates me.
What advice would you give to someone who is just starting to explore their creative talents in hand lettering and drawing?
It may not look good on your first try, but don’t give up. I used to ditch papers because the first five words didn’t look good, but I learnt to press on and realise that the small mistake I’d made earlier didn’t show up that much once everything was done.
What is the one thing on your heart that you would like to share with this generation of girls?
Dare to try, and don’t be afraid to fail. You don’t have to be good at everything! Also, find your identity in Christ for we do all things in Christ who strengthens us, not by our own strength!
