WHO IS ANYA?
It’s currently 2am and Anya is spending her time within her NYC studio working on a new piece. Previously mapped out via code, she is now applying spray paint, string, photographs, and more to create a stunning mixed media project. Despite her nocturnal tendencies, she spends the next day directing photoshoots, creating pop up galleries and videos, responding to emails, and shipping out packages. She may fit in on the bustling streets of NYC, but she is anything but ordinary. At only 26, Anya Karolyn has built an empire solely out of her art and brand, Karocrafts. It’s time to explore the Karoverse. Karocrafts was founded in 2023 after Anya quit her day job. Today, she encourages everyone to quit their job if it’s not suiting them. “People always ask me how to quit a job that they’re not happy with when they have artistic passions. I hear that all the time and that’s my favorite conversation to have. You can put me in a room with someone for an hour who’s on the brink of quitting their job and I’ll make them quit” (Hudson). Anya grew up in Boulder, Colorado and surprisingly did not go to school for design. However, she was always infatuated with art. It was her escape, her interest when nothing else seemed to click, and soon, her career.
She landed a job at Universal Music Group doing projects for artists like Olivia Rodrigo, Lil Nas X, and more. Although this was a fantastic job, her true dream was somewhere else. She would spend hours and hours every night working on her own art. Anya Karolyn by day, but Karocrafts at night. Fast forward, and today she has 312,000 followers on both Instagram and Tiktok, thousands of orders every day, art gallery pop-ups, and more. The mission of Karocrafts is stated as “the physical extension of the ever-evolving Karoverse-part workshop, part wonderland. Making mixed media art, clothing, video, and other whimsical miscellaneous design projects” (Karocrafts). Anya doesn’t just make mixed media art. She has an entire brand and world around her. The art is put on clothing which is sold online with jewelry, stickers, prints, etc, but there is more than the products themselves. Anya creates videos each week that contain video diaries of her process and sneak peaks. They leave you on your toes wondering, “what’s next?” due to the secrecy and ever evolving substance of her art. In addition to these videos, she also writes blogs, and newsletters, and oh yeah, she makes playlists on Spotify based on each piece of her art. This is the Karoverse. It’s art, clothing, music, an interactive website, a video diary, music, and an audience that can’t stop watching.
Karocrafts currently consists of several major pieces of work, and therefore, eras of the Karoverse. The “Stargirl” piece, the “Lucky” piece, the “11:11” piece, the “Hunger of the Pine” piece, and the “DreamState” piece. Within each of these projects there is a series of videos in both short and long form, a playlist, photoshoots, and clothing. The art itself usually consists of many materials including spray paint, digital media, photographs, crayons, string, acrylic paint, and photo transfers. Karocrafts is centered around a strong brand that consists of the colors blue, chrome, red, and white, while using symbols like her logo, a winking smiley face with eyelashes, and stars. Almost all of her pieces have a feminine figure in the center of the piece as an outline or silhouette and emulate a somewhat graffiti type of art style. You can see how she is visually influenced by NYC in her artwork and in her marketing. Almost all of her prints are made available on her interactive website along with the clothing she has designed. The website includes endless images and icons that are constantly catching your eye, and your mouse. Complete with a regular mode and “karo mode” it switches you into the Karoverse to see every craft and essence that is swirling around her brain.
“You can put me in a room with someone for an hour who’s on the brink of quitting their job and I’ll make them quit”
