Karen Guthrie is an entirely self taught jewelry artist, and the creative force behind Karen Olwen Designs. Her interest in creative pursuits began when she taught herself to crochet from a book at age 10, and she has been combining her love of reading and of making beautiful things ever since. Her creativity has spanned many different mediums, but has always come back to jewelry – in her words:

“Adorning ourselves is a tradition as old as recorded history – with jewelry, we have an opportunity to carry with us a part of the artist that everyone has within them - an individual expression of self, and an opportunity to participate in the beauty around us.”

Karen works almost exclusively in copper, using it to produce beautiful and unique jewelry that reflects her passion for nature and fantasy literature (think ancient forests, dragons, quests and elves), while staying true to her desire to create comfortable, structurally sound pieces of wearable art.

She attempts with each piece to allow the wearer to leave the mundane behind - to have a functional and beautiful piece of art that reflects their love of beauty and transports them (however briefly) from the everyday world.