About Karen Borga

I've always loved making things.

As a little girl, I learned to knit, crochet, sew, and embroider from my mother and grandmother. Creating with my hands was simply part of everyday life. I don't remember discovering that love—it was always there.

When I studied textiles in college, that curiosity deepened. I learned to weave, and as I often do, I wanted to understand more. Learning one technique only made me wonder what came before it. I wanted to know the materials more intimately, to understand not just how they were used, but where they began.

That curiosity eventually led me to spinning.

Learning to spin yarn transformed my world.

For the first time, I was working with raw fleece instead of finished fiber. I met the wool before it became yarn. I began to understand the remarkable differences between breeds, the structure of individual fibers, the character of a lock of wool, and the quiet beauty that exists long before a material reaches the store shelf.

I had found my place.

Today I work from my studio in New Jersey, surrounded by raw fleeces, spinning wheels, looms, hand-dyed fabrics, sewing machines, and more ideas than I could ever finish. Whether I'm spinning, weaving, dyeing, or sculpting felt, I'm still driven by the same curiosity that has guided me from the beginning: to keep learning, to keep exploring, and to discover what each material has to teach me.

Every piece I create begins with that sense of discovery. I don't simply make objects—I follow the journey of the fiber, from fleece to finished work, allowing the material to reveal its own character along the way.