HOME/HOMESTYLE Kathy Olliges: Owner, Dee’s
WHY DID YOU GET INVOLVED WITH TEACHING ARTS AND CRAFTS TO CHILDREN? I think it’s good to express yourself and have some creativity in your life, and kids need to be able to express their creativity in some way. But they get frustrated with it if they don’t feel like they know how, so you need to show them. Watching them create something is a lot of fun. They feel a lot of pride in what they do.
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ike many teenagers whose families run a business, Kathy Olliges worked in her parents’ store when they first opened Dee’s in 1970. The native Louisvillian never thought about a future in it for herself, however, and she pursued other interests after graduating from high school. Kathy went to college, became a medical technologist, got married, and began looking forward to starting a family. It wasn’t until her chemist husband decided to switch gears and approached her parents about joining the business that Kathy began to consider coming aboard as well. “I was getting up at 4 o’clock in the morning to get to work in the hospital,” she says, “and I thought, if I’m going to have kids, maybe I should go into the business too. I loved science and the medical field, but I walked away, and I really love what I’m doing now.” From its humble beginnings as a consignment gift shop selling handmade items, Dee’s has grown into a 23,000-square-foot store that offers not only everything a crafter might possibly need, but also a rotation of classes and workshops and an ever-changing array of gifts, accessories, and home décor items. A seasoned crafter herself — “My grandmother had the Craft-of-the-Month club come to her house, and I got started with her,” she says — Kathy is an avid proponent of making creativity accessible to children. Her volunteer activities include donating her time, skills, and resources to Maryhurst and supporting Ascension School art projects that raise funds for elementary art education in the community.
The process “ of creating something
is therapeutic for most people, but in the end, you also want something that is useable.
WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE CRAFT OR MEDIUM? I’ve tried everything in this job because it’s better for me to learn how to do
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everything so I can know about it and help people. But I really enjoy the Derby hat part of our business, and I like working with the Sinamay product that a lot of the hats are made of. It’s a natural product that they weave and then stiffen, and you can cut shapes out of it, get it wet, and manipulate it. I do a lot of my designs out of that. But at home, I tend to make jewelry right now. I have a little studio in the basement, and I’ll just make something if I need a gift or if I’m looking for something to wear. I mostly do wire work, the same type of stuff that someone in our store could make.
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WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU GIVE TO BEGINNING CRAFTERS? I think if somebody wants to do something creative, they need to figure out what process they enjoy. Is it free form, or is it something with a pattern where you don’t really have to make decisions? You need to find out what fits your personality. The process of creating something is therapeutic for most people, but in the end you also want something that is useable, which can mean that it just sits on the shelf — or hangs on the wall — and looks pretty. WHAT ARE YOU CURRENTLY STRUGGLING WITH? My goal is to try to cut back some of the work so I can start doing some of the other things I like to do. My volunteering is very important to me. I play tennis, and I really want to exercise. Tennis is great, but it’s not like going to the gym. I do go to the gym, but not during Derby hat time when I work a lot. I’m just trying to keep all the balls in the air and keep a balance of those things, not working so much that there’s no time for anything else. Nothing’s worse than coming out of work and having it be a beautiful day, but it’s 8 o’clock and you’ve missed it.
TODAY’S WOMAN