Project Runway Fashion Design Sketch Girl With Headband

Meet Katie Kortman

Katie Kortman is a manner designer, cloth designer, painter, instructor and dancing queen. She creates abstruse paintings which she turns into fabric, sews into fabulous clothes, and so dances in them around her living room (and now sells them!). She is originally from Westward Palm Beach, Florida, but currently resides with her husband and 4 children in Japan. Katie is i of xvi designers competing on Flavor nineteen of Project Runway.

Editorial photo of women modeling Katie Kortman's vibrant designs.

What practise you consider yourself? Instance: Artist, designer, illustrator, maker, business person, educator, etc.?

I consider myself an artist who loved fashion then much that she became a Fashion ARTIST! I guess at this indicate I'grand a designer. My careers and creative avenues have changed and morphed over the years from Fine Artist to teacher, but I guess at present I'm a designer!

Katie wears a pink, red, green, and cream dress with red clogs. She's standing with her arms raised to demonstrate the dress bodice and sleeve flowiness.

Where did you grow up? Were there aspects of your childhood that accept influenced what yous do now?

I grew up in Due south Florida and attended a school for the arts from 7th to 12th form. I got to be immersed in that creative surroundings during my formative years and it showed me that I am well-nigh happy when I am creating. I couldn't have pursued any other path than a creative one. My mom always told me I could practise "anything I put my listen to" and I think that has been in my subconscious all these years. I truly believe I tin can do anything if I work hard plenty!

What did you dream of condign when yous were younger?

I dreamt of being a fashion designer, production designer, or graphic designer. When I got to college though…. I studied PAINTING!

Is there a person who has been influential in your called career path?

I recollect the fact that my husband is in the Navy and nosotros move every 1-three years has acquired me to constantly change what I do. If we'd lived a normal live-in-one-place life, I would probably still be a high school art teacher, considering I really loved that! I like that living all over the world has caused me to try different things out and evolve so much.

A collaged photo of Katie in three different eclectic outfits with a painterly, bold background.

What sparked your interest in way?

I subscribed to every teen way magazine in high school and ripped out ads for all my favorite colorful playful ads to inspire me. Over the years I plant that the stores didn't have quite what I wanted…Not enough color, not enough fun! And so… I started sewing my ain clothes.

Katie Kortman modeling a vibrant dress and holding fabric plants in front of a pink wall

What are three words to draw your fashion?

Bright, Bold, Playful.

A woman models a dress next to a red building. The dress is pink with large abstract shapes in magenta, blue, cobalt, and bright green.

What is your educational background and how has it shaped or inverse your current career?

I accept a BFA degree in Drawing in Painting and a Master of Arts in teaching. I spent years studying color, and all the elements and principles of design. All of my art studying and training definitely influenced my unabridged career path!

Katie works on a yellow jacket while standing by a dress model. Katie's wearing a pink, red, yellow, and green colorful dress.

Have you lot ever made a big career switch? If so, what prompted that? Are there aspects of a prior career that you comprise into what you practise now?

My main chore has been my kids since I had my offset 12 years agone, and I've had a bunch of different jobs while doing that! I was a brandish artist for Anthropologie straight out of my undergrad, sold paintings in art galleries, got a masters and taught loftier school fine art, owned my own pilus accessories business organization, taught paint and sip classes out of my home while living in Bahrain, taught high school art once more, became a cloth designer, and recently became a fashion designer! It's been an development for sure.

What inspired y'all to become a fashion designer?

After years of sewing, and iii years of exclusively sewing my own clothes, I went on Project Rail. In my youth I'd dreamed of beingness a fashion designer, simply I hadn't spoken that dream out loud in a very long fourth dimension because I never thought It could happen without a fashion caste. Later filming the bear witness this summer, I was completely driven to pursue way, not just for myself. I came abode and immediately began working to get a line ready to launch in the fall!

What is one piece of piece of work that you lot are especially proud of and why?

Simply going on Project Runway. It was a DREAM come up truthful!!!!

Katie stands by a dress model working on a green blazer design.

Where do you notice inspiration for new creations?

They come equally I piece of work. I pull out fabrics and play with them as I sew, seeing what they want to go.

How exercise you brand social connections in the creative realm?

I joined Instagram purely to connect to other creatives and to accept conversations about the things I was making. I appreciate having that platform for this reason!

How has social media influenced your piece of work?

If it weren't for social media, I wouldn't take always been "discovered," and therefore been compelled to learn cloth blueprint, and the casting people for PR wouldn't accept reached out to me to endeavor out for the show! I owe and then much to social media!

Katie on a beach wearing a pink and blue bathing suit she designed. It has two pieces, and the top is a 3/4 length sleeve tankini. The bottom is high waisted.

What artists and creatives do you wait up to, both historical and present?

Robert Rauschenberg, Helen Frankenthaler, and Matthew Ritchie are some of my favorite artists, and I really admire Rachel Burke of @Imakestagram, Michelle Norris of @tropicophoto, and then many others.

What books, movies, shows, or music are making you lot excited these days?

Projection Runway season 19 of grade!!!!!!!! And I am part of a book society and then we read all different things which I beloved. I would stick to similar types of books if information technology weren't for book clubs that pushed me to read something else! And I honey hip-hop music the very most, merely when I need to go pumped up I often put on Electrical Low-cal Orchestra, Queen, or the Beatles (music my dad raised me on!).

A model wears Katie's pink overjacket with a yellow top underneath and white pants with colorful details. The backdrop is pink with yellow and pink rectangles.

What is a piece of advice that y'all have carried with you and who is it from? Practise y'all have a personal motto?

My mom told me "You can practise anything yous put your listen to." And I have carried that with me my whole life. It is so ingrained in my mind, that I have never even questioned that advice! There have been a few things in my life that I couldn't MAKE happen simply because I tried hard though, and that was very frustrating! Haha.

What is your workspace like? Has it changed at all since the beginning of the pandemic last twelvemonth?

I have a squeamish open up studio space in my home, right off the living room and kitchen. I like to exist able to work while also spending time with my family unit, and so I always keep my space in a central locale. My creative space changes every time I move, and during the pandemic I moved a crossed the world to Japan. In my electric current space I accept these pretty Shoji doors that permit in translucent light, and I dear them! I beloved my room to be neat and tidy, but when I'thou articulatio genus-deep in projects it's rarely that manner!

Katie Kortman and her kids sit around a sewing machine and work on a project.

How exercise your environs influence your piece of work?

My surroundings influence me only in how inspired I feel to create. Most of my inspiration comes from within, so I can exist creative anywhere. Only having a lot of natural light and space is really important for me to experience energized to create!

Describe some habits that keep y'all motivated and productive. How do you climb out of a artistic slump?

I love routines and I hate wasting time. I ever have projects out and ready to be worked on, and so that if a moment presents itself I can work on something. I usually accept "to-go" projects ready, sewing projects, and telephone projects. So you lot might grab me at a daughter's nighttime sewing on buttons, at swim practice cutting out patterns, or at a kid's medico's engagement editing photos on my phone. No fourth dimension is wasted if I tin help it! I also make sure I workout every morning. I piece of work actually difficult for about an hour or so, and that really does provide the free energy and fuel to become me through the solar day!

Katie Kortman wearing rainbow striped pants, blue boots, and a blue blazer with lines and dots.

What is a typical day like for yous?

I am up at 6 to get my kids to schoolhouse, and so I conditioning for 60-75 minutes, shower, become dressed and go my youngest to Yochien. And then I work until I have to pick up the youngest from schoolhouse , and I get most 30 more minutes to work before the rest come home. After that, I do $.25 and pieces of piece of work in between homework and dinner fourth dimension! I oftentimes piece of work after they become to bed as well. I endeavour to exist in my bed by 10:30!

What advice would y'all give to someone who wants to self-teach a new hobby or skill?

The internet is your best friend correct now! In-person classes are the all-time, simply if that'south not an option, in that location are and so many places to learn. I am self-taught at sewing, mode blueprint, and fabric design and some of those things I learned from cyberspace classes!

Do you accept a secret talent? What is one skill that you lot are working on?

I just did a sprint triathlon on a whim concluding weekend (we signed upward less than a calendar week before and didn't accept time to train for information technology), and I loved it SO MUCH that now I'm working to actually train for one! I am looking to get a road bike, which is Not as piece of cake as the Townie bike I rode for the triathlon! Haha. SO that will be a skill I'thou working on! I also learned to knit during the pandemic and I'm standing to work on that skill!

Katie poses under a sheer magenta piece of clothing.

Nobody likes to talk about it, but can yous share any advice regarding financing your business organisation?

I saved up money from all the blogging, IG "Influencer" gigs, and Fabric Designing and didn't spend anything considering I wanted to save it for something in the future. I wasn't sure what it would exist for, equally I was saving it, simply I knew I'd want to launch something in the time to come (I'd been saving for well-nigh 2 years). I used this coin, plus some money from our family business relationship, to fund my Fall 2021 Collection!

A model wearing a green Katie Kortman blazer with a pink, white, and blue top underneath. She has a headdress made of fabric leaves and she's standing by a pink and yellow wall.

Is there anything more you would similar to "become?"

I feel like I'm just now becoming a Fashion Designer, and never in my wildest dreams did I think that would ever happen. I take so much to learn so I would nonetheless like to work on becoming a legit Style Designer!!!

What is your long-term goal?

I accept no idea. Umm….. I'd like to practise a track show at NYFW??? I'd similar to expand my business to greater levels, and have information technology sold in Brick and Mortar stores… perhaps fifty-fifty Anthropologie?

Katie Kortman modeling a vibrant dress she's designed.

More Inspiration

Make certain you follow Katie Kortman on Instagram @KatieKortmanArt and @KatieKortmanClothing and then you can keep up with her heady work. You can also sign upwardly for her newsletter here to be among the first to see her new clothing line coming out this fall!

Y'all can too read more than Becoming interviews here. If you're especially interested in fashion, you'll love reading most Stacey Fraser, Romy-Krystal Cutler, and Whitney Lundeen.

A woman models one of Katie Kortman's designs – a blue and purple dress– while holding a plant.