KNOW all about it
Buckle up for a little backstory…
CREATIVITY MODE on
I'm a female Designer, Photographer, Maker & Creator.
A real actual human person, small business owner, creative, DIYer & lover of cheese.
I'm happily addicted to creating, when I'm not in the workshop working on my own products, or in the studio freelance designing for other companies, I can be found renovating our home in rural Victoria, Australia with The Husband and our small humans #firstchild #secondchild & #thirdchild.
You’ve probably worked out by now my name is Marika, so hi, hello, welcome, come right on in! Gather round for storytime on the origins of my small business, in a tiny rural town just outside Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
By day I’m a freelance design professional specialising in communication design.
By night I create beautiful products from custom signs to bespoke gifts, limited release jewellery collections and thoughtful home decor solutions that solve problems.
I founded MARIKA KNOWS THINGS as a way to fuse my design experience and love of learning into a hands-on exploration of all things creative.
PRODUCTS & THE MAKING PROCESS
MKT products are laser engraved and hand finished in sizes up to 900mm x 1300mm, using multiple materials including tassie oak, recycled hardwood, ply, mdf, cast acrylic and more. I design my own products then cut and engrave in my workshop with a CO2 Laser and woodworking tools. Each piece is then hand finished using a variety of techniques from paint-filled acrylic to resin pours, with timber sanded to perfection and oiled, varnished or left raw depending on the end purpose in mind.
DIY BLOG
On the KNOWING THINGS Blog you can join myself and The Husband as we share things we learn while renovating to create beautiful, functional indoor and outdoor spaces with a real life budget and healthy dose of reality. I began the blog when it became obvious there was a need for an Australian home & renovation blog for beginners, which offered budget DIY renovation ideas that were easy to digest and actually achievable. Create what you wish you had, right?
DESIGN
If we back up a bit, I have an honours degree in Communication Design with a minor in photography, I spent a big portion of my career designing for a large publishing company, with experience in smaller studios as a print designer creating branding and packaging and as a communications & marketing coordinator. More recently I’ve enjoyed evolving these skills into the digital design space, first as the lead designer of a large retail brand, then multiple brands, designing everything from seasonal campaigns to website makeovers, web ads, EDM’s and content creation for social media.
BUT WAIT, WHO’S THE SIDEKICK?
That’s The Husband, long time partner in all things home related, he was a qualified carpenter but side stepped careers and now keeps his building skills fresh undertaking all the crazy ideas I keep dreaming up for our home renovation projects (I’m thoughtful like that).
If you were talking about the floofer, that’s Lola, our Bernese Mountain Dog, the highlight of all our lives, gorgeous and loving, her skill set includes sleeping 23 out of every 24hrs and occasionally boasts the use of a whole two brain cells.
That’s it for now, over and out,
NAMING things
I was born curious. After annoying everyone around me with all my questions for years, finally the internet was invented, and along with it my enthusiasm for deep-dive research. Being an art-obsessed creative thinker, this quickly became a tool for learning new skills.
When I was thinking what to name my business, I was knee-deep in our latest renovation, telling a friend about some tip I had found. She said ‘I always tell people to ask Marika, she knows all the things’ – the idea behind that statement stuck.
I very nearly called my business Marika Learns Things, because that’s really what it’s all about: hard earned knowledge and products forged by years of research, study, experimentation, a good dose of trial and error. I learn so I can create, I share the process to help others gain their own knowledge and confidence in turn. I’m happy when I’m creating or solving problems.
I will never stop wanting to understand how things work, why, how we can improve a technique or process to make things more useful, efficient, or interesting. No matter how much I know, I will always want to know more.
— Marika, MARIKA KNOWS THINGS