Zurina Ketola Designs was established in 2004, and from the start, I strongly believed that environmental sustainability and ethical conduct were important parts of running a business.
Over the last ten years, it’s become clear to me that there is always room for improvement, and transparency is an important element. With that in mind, here’s a look at what I’ve been up to, and my plans for the future.
From now until midnight Friday CET, December 6th, use code HOLIDAY2019 at checkout to save 20% on an items from past collections! Continue reading “Save 20% with Code HOLIDAY2019 + Important Holiday Info!”
Minerals and crystals and beads, oh my! I had my first experiences with gem shows at the Tucson Gem Show, which is the largest in the world. Not a bad place to start, am I right? 😉 Now that I’m in based in Germany, it seemed like the perfect time to venture out and explore Europe’s largest gem show. Find out more about my adventures at the Munich Gem Show 2019!
I’m happy to share the news that Zurina Ketola Designs handmade jewelry is now available at Studio Hertzberg in Berlin! Continue reading “ZKD Updates: Exciting News!”
The last few weeks have been a flurry of activity. I’ve been working on site updates, adding new products, and testing everything to make sure it works.
It’s been a long time coming but the online shop is back up and running!
Happy Earth Day! I thought it would be the perfect time to talk a little bit about how I try to bring Earth Day into my every day life and small business. It’s been on my mind lately because my experiences in the area of recycling and sustainability between Germany and the US are so different!
These topics have always been important to me, I love that I’m finally able to live somewhere that has an eco-friendly consciousness built into daily life. I’m also really excited to talk a little bit about how it’s been built into my small jewelry business over the years.
Continue reading “Celebrating Earth Day: An Eco-Friendly Life + Small Business”
It’s been shy of eight months in Berlin and life has finally settled down. In about a month or so, I’ll have a jewelry studio again! It’s been a long and bumpy road, but it was totally worth it.
Before arriving, I had a few ideas about what path to follow to keep my creative flow active in my new home without a studio. On that list? Spending time being a tourist in our new home. Going on walks, exploring museums, and experiencing the culture of my new surroundings played a big role. As it turned out, life had other plans and we had to put a pin in this for a while.
I hope you all had a wonderful beginning to 2019!
I’ve gotten out of the habit of making the traditional New Year’s Resolution over the last few years, but my new home has inspired me to jump back in with both feet. This renewed interest has been brought on by one of the most amazing cultural differences I’ve noticed: people take their free time very seriously here in Germany. It’s a major contrast to what I’m used to in the States. Two weeks vacation is the standard back home, but here it’s six weeks!
As a small creative business owner who is involved from creation to sales and everything in between, it’s always been a challenge for me to take time off. There’s always a million things that need to be done, and my to-do list grows by the day.
My new surroundings are making me rethink the way I’ve done things in the past. It’s making me want to slow things down a bit and live in the moment.
It’s been just shy of six months in Berlin, and Christmas and New Years are just around the corner. My husband and I agreed on some general checklist items to work on after our arrival, and after checking “find a nice temporary apartment” off the list at the end of the summer, things were looking pretty good. I had begun the registration process for my business and we were getting settled into life in our new home.
We assumed challenges would arise eventually, but as my husband told me while we were looking for a hotel a few weeks ago, “Sweetheart, I’m sorry. But you can’t always plan for everything.”
I’ve been in Germany since the middle of the summer, and have been slowly but surely familiarizing myself with the procedures for transferring my life and jewelry business. I’ll be honest, it’s pretty overwhelming!
Germany is well known for it’s thorough bureaucracy, but it was hard to put into perspective until we arrived. The business side of things felt quite a bit more daunting that it ever has in the United States, largely due to the language barrier. Even though I’ve moved my business within the States multiple times and even made the move towards incorporation in the last few years, nothing quite prepared me fully for the challenges of moving to a new country.
Continue reading “Expat Life: Moving my Life and Jewelry Business to Germany”