The first thing you notice on 22-year-old Katie Cadorette’s Facebook is that she loves to travel. There are photographs of her smiling in numerous countries. The second thing? On her Facebook wall, you can see updates of new jewelry being added to her store’s website for her business, Tangible Whimsies.
Cadorette is a business student at Carleton who is living one of her many dreams, owning her own handmade goods store. She started her business after a couple of years of debating whether she wanted to do it or not. At the moment, she is focusing on growing her business and promoting it. Not only does she do this through her website, but also at local craft shows. She will be showing off her pieces at a craft show called Handmade Harvest in Almonte, Ont. this May.
Although she is busy with school and running her business, she does not seem to get tired.
“I have to be busy; I go crazy if I’m bored. At our cottage, I like to be organizing the forest, that’s my project. I love tidying up the trees, organizing the wood piles. I have to be busy all the time,” said Cadorette.
Cadorette loves her business Tangible Whimsies because it keeps her busy. She creates all the pieces herself, which include sea glass jewelry, headbands, candles and magnets to name a few.
Since childhood, she has had a love of making pretty things, starting with beading. The evolution of learning how to make complicated things was easy for her because it is a much-loved hobby.
“That’s all I like to be doing. So If I allow myself to, I could spend an entire day working on it,” said Cadorette.
Before she started the business, Cadorette’s room was full of things she had made.
“I had way too much in my room and you can only give so much as presents before it gets ridiculous, so I just wanted to get rid of some of the stuff I had,” said Cadorette.
Cadorette started the business in the fall of 2011, and despite being busy; it has not stopped her from doing the other thing she loves, travelling. This summer, she will be going on a trip to Ireland, Scotland and England for three months by herself. She started planning the trip when she missed out on seeing her cousins take part in the Beijing Olympics and vowed to be in England to watch them in 2012. She will find out in June whether they made it.
When asked if she worries about travelling alone, Cadorette answered with a strong voice.
“No I am excited. I am so thrilled. It’s just the U.K. My mom was freaking out and I told her ‘Mom, I’ve been in way sketchier places, come on,’” said Cadorette.
Cadorette has found that travelling has taught her how well she can deal with difficult situations.
“I was in Berlin, and had less than 48 hours to get to Paris, take the train to where I was living, meet my landlord and get my deposit, pick up all my stuff, get back to Paris and catch my flight. It all got so messed up and nearly missed the last train,” said Cadorette.
She does not see it in a negative way but sees it as a learning experience about herself.
“I can deal when things go terribly wrong. You know that you can always figure something out on the fly and you can always pay your way out,” said Cadorette.
The trip to the U.K. will also help her further her business. One of the focuses of the trip is finding sea glass, which she uses to make some of her jewelry.
“A lot of it will be focused on sea glass beaches during my trip to the U.K. which is a bit dorky [laughs],” said Cadorette.
At the moment, Cadorette is not sure whether she wants to run her business full-time when she graduates, because there are so many other options she wants to pursue. She says her dreams are always changing. The past few weeks, she has been thinking about going to B.C. when she finishes school.
“I want to go and be a farmer. I’ve got a bit of an inner hippy and I have a friend that has a farm and I want to work there for free,” said Cadorette.
Although Cadorette has done more than most people her age, she does not think about taking a break.
“If I can’t do it now then I’ll never do it,” said Cadorette.
Photo Captions:
1. Cadorette in Sidney Spit (B.C.), during this trip she found sea shells and sea glass to make more pieces for Tangible Whimsies.
2. Authentic west coast sea glass pendants featuring hand painted birds by artist Sarah Davidson. Chains are sold separately and can be viewed on the website. Each pendant is $15.
3. Each pair of wired glass earrings is on silver earring hooks. $7 Each.
4. Glass bubble magnets about 1/2” in diameter. Each package (of 7) is $8.
Check out more of Katie’s creations at her website!