About Katie Bister

Swedish-American Katie Bister was born and raised in Southern Africa by Missionary parents Mikael and Jeni. From a young age she was exposed to and aware of the poverty and the lack of good educational systems in her town, but also the beauty of local crafts. Local craftspeople made use of unconventional materials like chip bags and soda cans to make things like coin purses and cycling figurines. Katie always felt the desire to be creative, but it wasn't until she started at Berea College that she felt drawn to woodworking. Assigned to the woodcraft department her first year, she wasn't sure she would stay all four years, but she soon found that she longed to go to work. It wasn't until her Senior year that she really started to design and work on her own products and realized that she enjoyed teaching craft almost as much as the actual creating. She graduated in May 2023 with a B.S. in Technology and Applied Design, concentrating in Artisan Studies and now works full time as the manager of The Woodworking School at Pine Croft.

 

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